Iraqi troops launched operations on Friday to retake Kurdish-held positions in the disputed oil province of Kirkuk as tensions soar after an independence vote last month, a general told AFP. 

"Iraqi armed force are advancing to retake their military positions that were taken over during the events of June 2014," the general told AFP by telephone, asking not to be identified.

In 2014, when the Islamic State group swept through areas north and west of Baghdad, many units of the Iraqi army collapsed and Kurdish peshmerga forces stepped in to take over.