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Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq to hand over weapons in first step toward disarmament
World

Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq to hand over weapons in first step toward disarmament

  • By SALAR SALIM and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press

A Kurdish militant group has announced plans to start disarming as part of a peace process with Turkey. The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, says its fighters in northern Iraq will begin handing over their weapons next week in a ceremony in Iraq's Kurdish region. The number of fighters who will take part has not yet been determined but might be between 20 and 30. This marks the first concrete step toward disarmament after decades of conflict. The PKK announced in May it would disband and renounce armed conflict after the group's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, called for an end to the fighting.