Kurdish forces return home

Iraqi army forces took over security responsibilities in the Qurat Teba district in Khaneqeen district in Diala Iraq, after the 34th force battalion of the Peshmerga forces returned to Kurdistan, according to a report in Aswat Aliraq, an independent Iraqi news agency.

The withdraw was part of an agreement between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and a delegation from the Kurdistan’s government in Baghdad, according to an Iraqi security source.

The Diala Province extends northeast from Baghdad to the Iranian border.

The Iraqi army recently launched a large scale campaign in Diala called Bashaer al-Kheir in attempt to hunt down members of Al-Qaeda trying to establish a stronghold in the area since forces drove them out of western Iraq.

Kurds use the term Peshmerga to describe armed Kurdish fighters. The word literally means those, "who face death."

Iraqi Kurdistan stands as the only Kurdish area recognized internationally as an independent federal area.

Saddam Hussein was particularly brutal towards the Kurds in northern Iraq. Hussein launched an attack against the Kurds utilizing poison gas in March, 1988.