KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish Peshmerga forces have retreated to positions they held in northern Iraq in June 2014 in response to an Iraqi army advance into the region after a Kurdish independence referendum, a senior Iraqi commander said on Wednesday.
An Iraqi military statement said government forces had taken control of Kurdish-held areas of Nineveh province, including the Mosul hydro-electric dam, on Tuesday after the Peshmerga pulled back. On Monday, Baghdad's forces recaptured the major oil city of Kirkuk to the south shortly after the Peshmerga abandoned it.