Iraq to start paying KRG Peshmerga, civil servants: Abadi

The central Iraqi government is planning to start paying the salaries of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and civil servants working for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) soon, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told reporters on Tuesday.

The KRG has been struggling to pay the Peshmerga and its employees since 2014, after Baghdad stopped payments to it because of a dispute about oil-sharing revenue.

"We will soon be able to pay all the salaries of the Peshmerga and the employees of the region," Abadi told reporters.

Speaking at a press conference in Baghdad, Abadi said the Iraqi government has taken control of all the disputed territories in the country and vowed to liberate Al-Qaim, the largest town still held by Daesh in Iraq, soon.

The Iraqi prime minister slammed several pro-KRG media outlets for publishing provocative pieces and events calling for the killing of Iraqi forces.

Paying Peshmerga salaries would help defuse tensions in the northern Iraqi region, where a referendum vote in favor of KRG independence in September triggered economic and military retaliation from the Iraqi government.