Iraqi forces in Kirkuk said Sunday they were working closely with US forces to protect Arab Sunni and Shiite residents reportedly facing intimidation and threats ahead of a contentious planned national census, dpa reported.
Kirkuk police director Jamal Taher dismissed accusations from residents that Kurdish police and members of Kurdish political parties were carrying out death threats.
"We are neutral and independent and will work to protect all the people in the city of Kirkuk, without any distinction whether they are Arabs or Kurds or Turkmen or Chaldo-Assyrians," said Kirkuk police director Jamal Taher.
Taher said criminals infiltrating the city from the turbulent areas of Mosul, Tal Afar and the capital Baghdad were to blame for the instability.
In a joint press conference with Taher, US military commander Larry Swift said that his forces were providing tactical support to Kirkuk police and monitoring the situation.
Taher and Swift were speaking two days after Iraqi officials told the German Press Agency dpa that Arab Sunnis and Shiites in the city were asked to leave under the pretext that they were not native residents of Kirkuk. When they refused to do so, they were reportedly threatened.
"Dozens of Arabs have been threatened with death and displacement for the past three days," said Rakan al-Joubouri, the deputy governor of Kirkuk.
Abdullah Rifaat, a leading official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, denied the allegations. He said the police and the Kurdish security forces had only tried to encourage Arabs to register with the authorities.
Al-Joubouri nevertheless called on the Iraqi government to intervene immediately and send troops to protect people in Kirkuk.
Some officials believe the attempted evictions were meant to coincide with the census, which is to be conducted October 24.
The census had previously been postponed for a year due to concerns that it would fuel sectarian and ethnic tensions in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul. The last Iraqi general census was conducted 23 years ago.
Opponents of the census fear that its numbers could be politicised in oil-rich areas like Kirkuk where Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen reside.