Kurdish control ends at a valley just behind the village.

As of January 2013, the following towns were under Kurdish control:

Kurds have insisted on Kurdish control of Kirkuk, but the city's other ethnic groups have grown increasingly resentful.

Northern Iraq has been under Kurdish control since an autonomous region was established with the backing of the US-led coalition after the 1991 Gulf war.

They say they pushed the Arab settlers out as part of a plan to expand Kurdish control over the territory.

In the north, the Iraqi Army abandoned the town of Chamchamal, close to the border with the northern enclave under Kurdish control.

Kifri, annexed to Diyala governorate in 1976 was to be rettached, although it has been under Kurdish control since 1991.

They fear that the Shiite majority may try to impose Islamic law through the new constitution, or dilute Kurdish control of oil fields in their region.

Those who can afford a vacation head to Mosul, itself a replacement for resorts in the northern part of the country, which is now under Kurdish control.

Completing such a mass repatriation before the elections would almost certainly restore the city to Kurdish control.