Kurdish security forces seize control of two major oil fields

Kurdish security forces took over two major oil fields outside the disputed northern city of Kirkuk before dawn yesterday and said they would use some of the production for domestic purposes.

The takeover of the Bai Hassan and Kirkuk oil fields were the latest land grabs by Kurds, who have responded to the Sunni militant insurgency that has overrun large parts of Iraq by seizing territory of their own, effectively expanding the Kurdish autonomous zone in the north. Those moves have infuriated prime minister al-Maliki’s government while stoking independence sentiment among the Kurds.

Kurdish fighters pushed into the city of Kirkuk, a major hub for the oil industry weeks ago in the early days of the Sunni militant blitz. But until now they had not moved into the oil fields in the area.