Iraqi troops clash with Kurdish fighters in volatile Diyala, 6 wounded

BAQUBA, Iraq, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish peshmerga fighters traded fire in a disputed area in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, wounding six people, a provincial police source and an official said on Monday.

The clashes erupted late on Sunday night when a convoy of vehicles carrying Kurdish peshmerga fighters approached an Iraqi Army checkpoint during night curfew time in the town of Qarah Tappah, wounding a soldier and a Kurdish fighter, the police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

On Monday morning, Iraqi soldiers cordoned off the Kurdish peshmerga base in the town and traded fire with them, wounding two soldiers, a Kurdish fighter and a civilian, the source said.

"U.S. troops, local and provincial leaders intervened in the town and calm had returned," Delier Taiyh, a Kurdish member of the provincial council told Xinhua.

Qarah Tappah, some 80 km northeast of the provincial capital city of Baquba, is part of the disputed areas between the Kurds and Arab majority in four of Iraq's northern provinces, including Diyala.

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