KirkukNow

KirkukNow correspondent Karwan Salhi has been arrested by an Iraqi army force in a village in Kirkuk’s Dubz district.

Karwan Salhi was arrested at 2.45 p.m, while covering land ownership disputes which broke out on Tuesday May 14 in Palkana, a village associated with Dubz district northwest of Kirkuk.

In his last call with KirkukNow staff, Karwan Salhi said, “an Iraqi army force intercepted us and said we did not have an authorization from the operations command in Kirkuk.”

He added that the force was taking them to an army headquarters in Shanagha northwest of the province.

KirkukNow is licensed by both the Iraqi and Kurdistan Region Journalists Syndicate and is formally registered as an electronic website in the Kirkuk administration.

Tensions broke out on Tuesday between Kurds and Arabs in Palkana village over agricultural land ownership claims. According to eyewitnesses Iraqi army troops arrived at the scene to end tension, indicating that a number of locals were arrested from both sides.