The two main Kurdish rebel groups sharing control of northern Iraq have formed a "joint higher command" in the run-up to a possible US-led war on Iraq.
The command will "run the political, military and administrative activities" of the two groups, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said in a joint statement.
The joint command was formed "in view of the critical circumstances which Iraq and the region are going through and in anticipation of future developments, which require further closing of ranks," the statement said.
The announcement came three days after the end of a conference of the two Kurdish groups and other Iraqi opposition factions in the KDP-run part of northern Iraq, which has been off limits to the Baghdad government since the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf war.
The conference was overshadowed by Kurdish fears that Turkey would send troops into northern Iraq in the wake of a US-led invasion, so ending Kurds' hopes of preserving their hard-won autonomy under a post-Saddam Hussein regime.
KDP-PUK peace moves climaxed last October with the revival of their joint parliament, which had not convened since clashes between the two groups reached a peak in 1996.
AFP