Turkey's military units which have been stationed inside northern Iraq for nearly a decade were involved in a standoff with the peshmerga forces of the Iraqi Kurdish administration near the city of Duhok when they moved out of their bases and started to control some villages in the area.

Local sources in Duhok near the Turkish border said Iraqi Kurdish troops on Thursday encircled Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq and threatened to open fire in the most serious standoff between the two forces since Turkey threatened late last year to go after the PKK terrorists sheltering in Iraq .

Turkey has a force of about 1,300 soldiers and more than 40 tanks stationed in northern Iraq. They have about five bases the largest being Bamari near Duhok. It is an old small airfield.

The standoff reportedly began when Turkish troops in tanks and armored vehicles left one of five bases they've had in Iraq since 1997 and moved to control the approaches of some villages near Duhok.

Kurdish soldiers from the peshmerga forces which is controlled by the Kurdish Regional Government, reportedly moved to stop them. For an hour and a half, the two sides faced off before the Turkish soldiers retreated to their base, which is about 27 miles northeast of Duhok. The peshmerga reportedly surrounded the base and remained there late Thursday.

Meanwhile, The New Anatolian correspondents in the area reported the Kurdish administration moved hundreds of peshmerga forces into the Duhok area from Erbil throughout the night and early Friday.