Clashes in Iraq’s Kirkuk over handover of police HQ to Kurds leave 1 dead, several injured

By ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD AND QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press

BAGHDAD (AP) — Witnesses and local officials say that demonstrations in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk over the handover of a key facility from federal to local Kurdish authorities has turned violent and one protester was killed and several were injured. Clashes broke out around the planned handover of the Iraqi federal police headquarters to the Kurdish Democratic Party in the city, which is home to a mixed population of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. Federal forces seized Kirkuk and the surrounding oil fields in October 2017 after Kurdish regional authorities organized a symbolic but controversial referendum for Kurdish independence. The KDP vacated its headquarters in the city at the time.