The violence flared yesterday, a day after three people were killed and dozens more wounded when clashes erupted between Kurdish fighters from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Arab and Turkmen demonstrators in Kirkuk.
"Unknown attackers stabbed two Kurds to death and threw their bodies near a bridge in the centre of the city," Kirkuk police chief Turhan Yussef said yesterday.
A Sunni Arab man was killed and two others injured by security forces in the south of the city where armed Arabs and Turkmens were trying to attack Kurdish targets, Yussef's deputy Sirzad Rifaat Kader said.
Several other people, including a police officer, were also wounded during armed confrontations in the al-Uruba district of the city, and police have called for reinforcements from the US military that controls Iraq.
Heavy gunfire could be heard in the centre of the city, where the streets were deserted and in darkness because of a power cut.
Tensions have been simmering between Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens in this city of almost one million people since the collapse of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's regime in April. Bureau Report