BAGHDAD, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Friday announced 24-hour halt of movement of the Iraqi security forces to allow a joint Iraq-Kurdish military team to arrange redeployment of federal forces in the disputed areas claimed by Baghdad and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.
A statement by the premier office said that Abadi, who is also Commander-in-Chief of Iraqi forces, issued his instructions to pave the way for the joint team to "work on the ground to ensure immediate redeployment of the Iraqi federal forces in all the disputed areas, in addition to Faysh-Khabur area and the international borderline."
The latest measure came "to prevent clashes and bloodshed between the sons of one nation," according to the statement.
The statement came a day after heavy clashes between the two sides on Thursday as the government troops advanced to seize more disputed areas outside the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.
Heavy clashes erupted in Rabi'a and Zummar areas as the troops advanced towards the Peshmerga-seized village of Faysh-Khabur near the Iraqi-Syrian-Turkish border to seize the border crossing point of Ibrahim al-Khalil between Iraq and Turkey.
More clashes occurred during the day on the main road outside the town of Makhmour, some 60 km southwest of Erbil, between the security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga, the source said.
The two sides also traded mortar and artillery barrage in Altun Kupri, some 40 km north of the city of Kirkuk.
On Oct. 16, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered government forces to enter the oil-rich Kirkuk province in northern Iraq to regain control of the ethnically-mixed disputed areas.
The Kurds consider the northern Kirkuk province and parts of Nineveh, Diyala and Salahudin provinces as disputed areas and want them to be incorporated into their region, a move fiercely opposed by the Arabs and Turkmens in the region as well as the Iraqi central government.
Tensions have been running high between Baghdad and the region of Kurdistan after the Kurds held a controversial referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan region and the disputed areas.
