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Demonstrations in Kirkuk over the handover of a key facility from federal to local Kurdish authorities turned violent in September, killing one protester and injuring others.

Two days later, a U.S. strike on a drone launch site near the Iraqi city of Kirkuk killed five militants.

Iraq's federal supreme court issued an urgent ruling on Sunday obliging the government to delay procedures regarding the handover of a building in Kirkuk to the KDP, the state news agency reported.

Four protesters were shot dead on Saturday in clashes between ethnic groups in Kirkuk that broke out after days of tensions.

People from both protest groups were wounded as stones were thrown and metal bars used to attack, Kirkuk police said.