Two killed in clashes between Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga

One Iraqi soldier was killed and a fighter of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces also died on Sunday as the two sides clashed in a mountainous northern area, Iraqi and Kurdish security sources said.

Fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had evacuated positions near the town of Makhmour on Saturday and handed them over to the Iraqi army.

But Peshmerga fighters from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the ruling party in Iraqi Kurdistan, tried to retake the positions on Sunday, triggering the clashes, the sources said. [REUTERS]