Clashes around oil-rich Kirkuk raise specter of a new civil war in Iraq

CHAMCHAMAL, Iraq - Gunfire and explosions rang out Monday as Iraqi forces moved to wrest a contested city and its oil fields from a Kurdish militia, raising the specter of another civil war in a country still battling against Islamic State.

The government forces said they were under orders to avoid violence and had coordinated the takeover of a military base, airport and other infrastructure near the city of Kirkuk with the Kurdish faction that had controlled them since federal troops fled an Islamic State assault in 2014.

State television reported that the advancing troops - which include members of Iraq's army, counterterrorism commandos and