Battle for Kirkuk central to successful outcome of war

ONE of the major battles in any war with Iraq will be fought over the strategically crucial northern city of Kirkuk.

The city is the centre of Iraq's oil industry and one of only two sites in the region with a major airfield, the other being Mosul in the north-west.

Also important to the threatened US-led military action is Kirkuk's location, just south of the northern no-fly zone and about 150 miles from Baghdad. Winning control of the city possibly with the help of Kurdish fighters is seen as the key to securing the rest of northern Iraq in a conflict with Saddam.