Iraq says may use force if Kurdish referendum turns violent

BAGHDAD – Iraq is prepared to intervene militarily if the Kurdish region's planned independence referendum results in violence, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in an interview Saturday.

If the Iraqi population is "threatened by the use of force outside the law, then we will intervene militarily," he said.

Iraq's Kurdish region plans to hold the referendum on support for independence from Iraq on Sept. 25 in three governorates that make up their autonomous region, and in disputed areas controlled by Kurdish forces but which are claimed by Baghdad.