Another Test
New Products - Posted: April 10, 2003

US-backed Kurdish forces have occupied the centre of the northern city of Kirkuk, a day after Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed in Baghdad.

Government buildings were set ablaze and a statue of the Iraqi leader was pulled down by jubilant local people in the city centre, repeating earlier scenes in the capital.

Neighbouring Turkey - hostile to any Kurdish independence moves - voiced concern, saying it was sending military observers to Kirkuk.

The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Kirkuk said there were still pockets of Iraqi resistance, but the army appeared to have fled the city, which controls the oilfields of northern Iraq.

Kurds later went on a looting spree in the city, she said - and coalition forces are also witnessing widespread looting in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra.