In northern Iraq, thousands of Arabs are being expelled from their homes by armed Kurds. There are reports of abandoned Arab villages and hamlets all along the road that runs northwest from Kirkuk to Makhmur. Wheat fields have transformed overnight into temporary refugee camps. An official with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan told The New York Times that Washington has given Kurdish forces tacit approval to pursue the policy of expulsion.

Meanwhile, the London Independent reports that at least eight people were killed in gun battles between Iraqi Kurds and Arab tribes south of Kirkuk yesterday. The fighting was around the town of Hawija on the road between the Iraqi oil center of Kirkuk and the city of Tikrit. Under Saddam Hussein, some 300,000 Kurds were driven out of the oil-rich Mosul and Kirkuk provinces and forced to live within the Kurdish enclave. All their villages were destroyed, and Arab settlers farmed their lands.