Makhmur (, ) is a town in

Nineveh Governorate Nineveh Governorate (; , ) is a governorate in northern Iraq. It has an area of and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people as of 2003. Its largest city and provincial capital is Mosul, which lies across the Tigris river from the ruins of a ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. It is situated strategically approximately 60 km southwest of

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

as well as 80 km north-east of

Kirkuk Kirkuk (; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate. The city is home to a diverse population of Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, Iraqi Turkmens and Arabs. Kirkuk sits on the ruins of the original Kirkuk Cit ...

and 80 km south-east of

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

Background

During the 2014 IS crisis, the town was captured by IS militants. A volunteer civilian militia to defend the town was created in response. The town was then reclaimed by the

Iraqi Army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), also referred to as the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was formerly known as the Royal Iraq ...

in October 2017. During the 2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, clashes were reported on the outskirts of the town between Kurdish

Peshmerga The Peshmerga () are the internal security forces of Kurdistan Region. According to the Constitution of Iraq, regional governments are responsible for "the establishment and organization of the internal security forces for the region such as p ...

forces and the Iraqi army, supported by the Popular Mobilization Forces (also known as ''Hashd al-Shaabi''), until it was fully recaptured by the latter.

Refugee camp

Situated in the Makhmur District is the Makhmur refugee camp, which was founded in 1998. Around 12,000 Kurdish refugees, who fled the Kurdish-Turkish conflict in the 1990s, live in this refugee camp. It has been subject to continuous drone strikes by the Turkish state.

References

Populated places in Nineveh Governorate Kurdish settlements in Iraq {{Iraq-geo-stub Turkmen communities in Iraq