Thursday, 23 July, 2009 , 08:52 AFP — Iraqi Kurdistan, in the rugged, mountainous north of the war-torn country, has been a semi-autonomous region since it was put under US protection following the 1991 Gulf War.

Thursday, 23 July, 2009 , 08:30 AFP — Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a president and a parliament in a vote being held amid a simmering land dispute with Baghdad and rising tensions over oil exports that could lead to armed conflict.

Wednesday, 22 July, 2009 , 12:28 AFP — Iranian security forces have killed two Kurdish rebels in a clash near the border with Turkey, an area that has seen a number of similar incidents, the ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

Tuesday, 21 July, 2009 , 15:58 AFP — Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has given the cold shoulder to proposals that a jailed Kurdish rebel leader is expected to unveil next month to end a bloody insurgency in southeast Turkey.

Tuesday, 21 July, 2009 , 11:15 AFP — An excavation was begun Tuesday inside an army compound in southeast Turkey on suspicion that 12 Kurds -- missing since 1994 -- might have been executed and buried there, judicial sources said.

Tuesday, 21 July, 2009 , 09:03 AFP — Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has given the cold shoulder to proposals that a jailed Kurdish rebel leader is expected to unveil next month to end a bloody insurgency in southeast Turkey.

Monday, 20 July, 2009 , 08:46 AFP — The president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, Massud Barzani, insisted he will not "compromise" on longstanding Kurdish claims to the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, in a speech late on Sunday.

Sunday, 19 July, 2009 , 16:07 AFP — A new refinery that is set to produce 40,000 barrels of oil a day within months was inaugurated in Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan, the head of the company that built it told AFP on Sunday.

Sunday, 19 July, 2009 , 12:01 AFP — Four people including two soldiers were injured in a mortar attack by Kurdish rebels against a military post in Turkey's southeast, near the border with Iraq, local officials said Sunday.

Sunday, 19 July, 2009 , 06:58 AFP — Separatist Kurdish rebels have killed four Iranian policemen in West Azarbaijan province, a newspaper reported on Sunday.