Disputes over jurisdiction in the northern areas of Diyala province between the Kurdish Peshmerga force and the Iraqi military threatened to erupt into violence last week. Peshmerga forces Monday withdrew from the predominately Kurdish section of the province and handed security responsibility over to Iraqi forces.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, brokered the deal with regional officials and lawmakers in the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Abdel Kareem al-Sumarraie, a Sunni lawmaker with the Accordance Front, praised the move and called for tighter control over security forces, Voices of Iraq reported.

"The security and defense committee seeks to empower the central government to have full control over military units in all provinces, even those in the Kurdistan region, given the fact that all units are Iraqi and are assigned to serve Iraq," he said.

Iraqi lawmakers earlier this year issued a similar decree on the military wings of Iraqi political parties, forbidding them from participating in the political process should they maintain their weapons.

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