The deployment of Iraqi national troops in Khanaqin, a Kurdish city in the north of Diyala province, has brought sectarian issues near the point of violence as the Kurdish Peshmerga claim responsibility for the area.

Meanwhile, the deployment of Peshmerga fighters alongside Iraqi forces in Mosul provoked the ire of many Iraqi lawmakers, Voices of Iraq reported.

"The forces exercised pressure on residents (of Mosul) with the aim of Kurdizing them," said Osama al-Nujaifi with the secular Iraqi National List.

Saddam Hussein sought to influence the demographics of Kurdish areas of Iraq through an "Arabization" agenda of forcible displacement.

For his part, Sami al-Atroushi with the Kurdistan Islamic Union denied the Peshmerga allegations, pointing to diplomatic measures under way to resolve the Khanaqin crisis.

"There is no logical reason for raising similar issues," he said.

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