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Baghdad accuses Kurdish militia of seizing oil deposits in north Iraq

On June 12, Kirkuk, the center of the oil industry in north Iraq, came under control of Peshmerga forces that had ousted militants of the Islamic State group

KUWAIT CIY, July 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Iraq’s Oil Ministry accused Kurdish militia (Peshmerga) on Friday of seizing two oil fields near the town of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

“The Oil Ministry resolutely denounces the seizure of oil wells at the Kirkuk and Bay Hasan oil deposits by a group of Kurdish fighters this morning,” the ministry said in a statement.

On June 12, Kirkuk, which is the center of the oil industry in north Iraq, came under control of Peshmerga forces that had ousted militants of the Islamic State militant group previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

Most local residents are Kurds, but the town is not officially part of Iraqi Kurdistan.