Inter-communal fighting between Arabs and Kurds in the north of the country has claimed at least 20 lives and fuelled fears that Iraq may be imploding. As looting subsided in the city of Kirkuk, fierce fighting broke out in Mosul some 160 kilometres to the northwest. As many as 20 people were believed to have been killed and over 200 wounded in the last two days of fighting between Kurds and Arabs.

Fighting began after the city fell on 11 April to US-backed Kurdish forces.

There is concern that this may be the beginning of inter-communal fighting between Arabs and Kurds as old hatreds emerge. Arab residents are accusing Kurdish fighters of ransacking the city.

Kurdish forces captured Mosul after Iraqi troops surrendered. US special forces entered the city several hours later. Mosul is 450 kilometres north of Baghdad and has an Arab-majority among its approximately 1.5 million inhabitants. Concerns from Turkey, as well as the continued violence provoked anger from Arabs who called on the US troops to force Peshmerga-Kurdish fighters to leave.

US troops were not met with the same adulation that they earlier experienced.

Egypt Calls for Stabilizing the Situation

Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has called for the United States and Britain to stabilise the situation in Iraq and prevent the outbreak of civil war in the country.

On Thursday, Mubarak called for a transitional government to stabilise the country and said it was up to the United States and Britain, which invaded Iraq in March to overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein, to stabilise the situation.

PHOTO CAPTION

Kurdish peshmerga volunteer fighters. Clashes between Kurds and Arabs have killed as many as 20 people in Mosul since Friday (AFP/File)