Baku, Azerbaijan, June 27
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The Kurdish autonomy of Iraq is ready to do its best to protect Kirkuk, the head of the administration of autonomy Massoud Barzani said on June 27, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported.
"The population of Kirkuk is also ready to fight against terrorist groups," Barzani added.
"Kirkuk is a historic city, which suffered much," he added. "We promise that the future of Kirkuk will be brighter thanks to the Peshmerga (special forces subordinating to the Kurdish administration].
On June 10, the militants of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), supported by the banned Iraqi Ba'ath Party [the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party], seized the administrative center of the Mosul city in the northern Iraqi province of Ninawa, a number of small settlements, as well as part of the Salah al Din Province, including its center - the city of Tikrit.
The ISIL militants took control over the Iraqi town of Tal Afar on June 16 and the city's military airport also came under the control of the ISIL militants on June 22.
It was reported on June 25 that the Sunni groups in Iraq are taking up arms against the ISIL militants.
In particular, the 1920 Revolution Brigades group is armed against the militants. The 1920 Revolution Brigades group actively fought against Al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq in 2007.
The activists of the Iraqi Islamic National Resistance, the Islamic Army of Iraq, Sunni Mujahideen Army are also armed.
The Iraqi prime minister rejected the proposal to create a transitional government with the Sunni insurgents that are not included in the ISIL.