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Iraqi Kurds Concerned About US-Iran Escalation

Sirwan Kajjo

   WASHINGTON / DUHOK / SULAIMANI - Leaders in the autonomous region of
   Kurdistan in northern Iraqsaid Wednesday that they wereworried that any
   further escalation between the United States and Iran on Iraqi soil
   could throw the already unstable nation into a more volatile situation.
   They also said they didn'twant their relatively safer region to be
   embroiled in a military confrontation between Washington and Tehran.

   Some of the ballistic missiles that Iran launched Tuesday against U.S.
   forces in Iraq hit locations in near Irbil, the Kurdistan region's
   capital.
   In an urgent meeting Wednesday, the three branches of the Kurdistan
   Regional Government (KRG) discussed the recent developments following
   the death of Iranian GeneralQassemSoleimani in a U.S. airstrike near
   Baghdad and the subsequent Iranian missile response against U.S.
   military targets in Iraq.

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