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02/14/2005:

"U.S. Troops Braced for Ethnic Conflict in Kirkuk"

KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops were braced for violence in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk Monday after a strong showing by Kurds in provincial elections threatened to upset the city's delicate ethnic balance.

``I think there'll be some ethnic violence here, I really do,'' said U.S. Captain Mitch Smith, a company commander in the heart of Kirkuk, the most ethnically diverse city in Iraq.

``Before the elections there were concerted attacks on coalition forces and Iraqi security forces but I think the focus may have shifted now,'' he told Reuters.

``Rather than targeting us, I expect we might see the various groups in the city fighting among themselves.''

Kirkuk's 850,000-strong population is split roughly three ways between Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, with Assyrian Christians forming a minority of around three percent.

The Kurds regard the city as theirs, and many want it to become the capital of a federal Kurdish state within Iraq, or even an independent Kurdistan.

The Turkmen, who have close cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey, trace their arrival in Kirkuk from eastern Asia to the 11th century, and have no intention of leaving.
Full Article:nytimes.com/reuters