Kurdish-Turkmen Firefights in Kirkuk
Amidst a story about the 4-way fight for control in Kirkuk between Turkmen, Kurds, Arabs, and Assyrians (!) I noted this little aside;
The second [US] patrol encountered several near-riots and a firefight between Turkmen residents and Kurdish looters.
One good note was a HRW observation that so far the level of vigilante retribution attacks and revenge killings seemed “better than expected”. Meanwhile in Mosul, a different Kurdish faction was guarding some precious treasures:
The fighters from the Irbil-based Kurdistan Democratic party had been given orders to defend several key buildings, including the Mosul Museum, with its priceless Assyrian antiquities. They didn’t manage to get there in time, although they did secure the natural history museum a short walk away. A Kurdish com mander, Wahid Majid, proudly showed me the dusty toucans and pickled reptiles he had just saved from the mob. The museum’s stuffed brown bear was still safely in its display case.
Earlier here.