At least three Kurds were killed and 16 others were injured on Saturday when clashes broke out during demonstrations in the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, where authorities imposed a curfew after several days of tension.

Kirkuk’s health director Ziyad Khalaf told AFP that two of the three dead were shot in the chest and the other in the head. One of the deceased was 21 years old, and the other two were 37 years old.

Khalaf pointed out that the 16 injured "were wounded due to direct collisions, whether by gunfire or by other materials like glass, iron, or stones," among them three security personnel.

The demonstrations included Kurdish residents on one side and others from Arab and Turkmen backgrounds, and they witnessed clashes despite the presence of security forces.

Security forces were deployed to separate the two sides and fired warning shots to disperse the Kurdish demonstrators. An AFP correspondent reported that vehicles were set on fire on a main avenue.

A security official in Kirkuk confirmed to AFP the "arrest" of about 31 "protesters," including five armed individuals.

Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia Sudani called for the "formation of an investigation committee," pledging in a statement to "hold accountable those who are proven guilty in these events and bring them to justice to receive their fair punishment."

Kirkuk has seen tension for a week, noting that it is a historic point of dispute between the central government in Baghdad and the authorities of the Kurdistan Region in the north.

On Monday, protesters from both the Arab and Turkmen groups staged a sit-in near the headquarters of the Iraqi security forces in Kirkuk province, following reports that Sudani had ordered security forces to hand over this headquarters to the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which had previously occupied it.

On Saturday afternoon, Kurdish demonstrators gathered and tried to reach the headquarters, according to an AFP correspondent in Kirkuk.

The Iraqi Prime Minister ordered in a statement on Saturday evening the imposition of a curfew in Kirkuk "and to start extensive security operations in the areas that witnessed riots for the purpose of thoroughly searching them."

A statement from the Kirkuk governorate mentioned that after a phone call with Sudani, "Kirkuk Governor Rakan Saeed al-Jubouri announced a pause in evacuating the operations headquarters in Kirkuk." The statement noted that "the protesters decided to withdraw their tents and end their sit-in and open the road."

On Saturday evening, the sit-in organized by Arabs and Turkmen continued in front of the headquarters, while Kurdish demonstrators gathered in another area of the city. The local police chief, Major General Kawa Gharib, attempted to calm them.

Sudani's government has relatively succeeded in containing the strained relations between Baghdad and Erbil in recent months.

Sudani confirmed during a phone call on Saturday evening with the President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani: "Intensifying integrated work to deprive anyone who disrupts the security and stability of the city of Kirkuk of the opportunity."

Sudani also discussed the situation in Kirkuk province in another call with the President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, emphasizing "the importance of not allowing any irresponsible elements targeting the social fabric of the province," according to the media office of the Prime Minister.

In 2014, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Peshmerga, the security forces in the Kurdistan Region, seized control of the oil area in Kirkuk before being expelled in the fall of 2017 following a military operation by Iraqi forces in response to an unsuccessful referendum on the separation of the Kurdistan Region from Iraq.

The former president of the region, Masoud Barzani, accused the Arab and Turkmen demonstrators in a message on Saturday, stating: "A group of bandits and rioters blocked the roads between Erbil and Kirkuk under the pretext of preventing the opening of the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Kirkuk."

He added: "They do not allow citizens to carry out their daily lives and have created a tense and dangerous situation for the residents of Kirkuk."

He continued: "It is surprising that the security forces and police in Kirkuk have not been able in the past few days to prevent the chaos and unlawful behavior of those who blocked the road, but today violence was used against Kurdish youth and demonstrators in Kirkuk."

For his part, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, called for "the federal Prime Minister to intervene immediately to control this unacceptable situation." He added, "We urge the oppressed Kurdish citizens in Kirkuk to exercise restraint and avoid violence."