Iraq crisis: Kurdish forces seize oilfields as security forces accused of executions
Kurdish forces have seized two oilfields in northern Iraq and took over operations from a state-run oil company, while Kurdish politicians formally suspended their participation in prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.
It comes as Human Rights Watch said Iraq's security forces had executed at least 255 people since the violence erupted last month.
The move by Kurdish forces escalated a feud between the Shiite-led central government and the autonomous Kurdish region, driven by a Sunni insurgency that threatens to fragment Iraq along sectarian and ethnic lines three years after the withdrawal of US troops.
The Kurdish forces took over production facilities at the Bai Hassan oilfield and the Makhmour area of the Kirkuk oilfield, which has previously been under the control of the state's North Oil Company (NOC).
The oil ministry in Baghdad said it called on the Kurds to withdraw immediately to avoid "dire consequences".
Kurdish authorities said they had moved to secure the two oilfields after hearing that the oil ministry planned to disrupt a pipeline designed to pump oil from Makhmour.
"The Kurdish Regional Government learned on Thursday that some officials in the federal Ministry of Oil gave orders to a number of NOC staff to cease their cooperation with the KRG and to dismantle or render inoperable the valves on the new pipeline," the Kurdish authorities said in a statement.
"The nearby Bai Hassan field and the other fields located in Makhmour district are now safely under KRG management."
The statement said NOC staff had been told they should cooperate with Kurdish authorities or leave and that any production at the fields seized by the Kurds would be used primarily to supply the domestic market.
Baghdad ministry spokesman Asim Jihad rejected Kurdish assertions that they had acted to protect oil infrastructure, saying the ministry had worked to raise output at the fields and increase investment in local gasoline production.
"The ministry rejects their irresponsible accusations as these workers are doing their best in order to supply the gasoline," he said.
"Such a statement is ridiculous."
Iraqi security forces executed 255 prisoners: Human Rights Watch
Meanwhile, Iraq's security forces and allied Shiite militias have executed at least 255 Sunni prisoners as they fled a lightning jihadist-led advance last month, according to watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW).
"Iraqi security forces and militias affiliated with the government appear to have unlawfully executed at least 255 prisoners ... since June 9," HRW said in a statement.
"The mass extrajudicial killings may be evidence of war crimes or crimes against humanity."
Explained: What is the Islamic State?
International correspondent Mark Corcoran takes a look at the feared group currently waging an insurgency across Iraq and Syria.
It said the killings appeared to have been carried out in revenge for the onslaught led by the militant group previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The group, which has since rebranded itself as the Islamic State, is a Sunni extremist organisation which last month overran large swathes of Iraq, including the city of Mosul, and has since declared a caliphate straddling the border with Syria.
"Gunning down prisoners is an outrageous violation of international law," HRW deputy Middle East director Joe Stork said.
"While the world rightly denounces the atrocious acts of [the Islamic State], it should not turn a blind eye to sectarian killing sprees by government and pro-government forces."
The rights group said it had documented massacres of prisoners last month in Mosul, as well as in the towns and villages of Tal Afar, Baquba, Jumarkhe and Rawa.
"In one case the killers also set dozens of prisoners on fire, and in two cases they threw grenades into cells," HRW said.The watdchdog has demanded an international investigation into the killings.
original post found herhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-12/kurds-seize-oilfields-as-iraqi-forces-accused-of-executions/5591822
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