KRG premier hints at ‘positive’ signs from Baghdad

Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of northern Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), has said that his government had received "positive signs" from Iraq's central government amid an ongoing political crisis between Baghdad and Erbil.

"We have recently received positive signs from Iraqi President Fuad Masum and his two deputies, Nuri al-Maliki and Iyad Allawi," Barzani said at a press conference in Erbil, the KRG's administrative capital.

Barzani did not elaborate, however, as to the nature of these "positive signs".

The KRG hopes to hold "unconditional" talks with Baghdad -- under UN auspices -- with a view to resolving their outstanding differences.

Baghdad, for its part, demands the annulment of the results of the KRG's Sept. 25 referendum on regional independence.

In the immediate wake of the illegitimate poll, federal forces moved into several parts of Iraq "disputed" between Baghdad and the KRG, including the oil-rich Kirkuk province.