Peshmerga - Kurdish forces claim to be in full control of Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk (Reuters)

(Reuters) -

Kurdish forces are in full control of Iraq's oil-rich city of Kirkuk after the federal army abandoned its bases there, a Kurdish military spokesman said on Thursday.

Kirkuk lies at the heart of a long-running dispute between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurds, who run their own autonomous region in the north of the country and have an armed force called the Peshmerga.

"The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of peshmerga," said Jabbar Yawar, referring to the Kurdish forces. "No Iraqi army remains in Kirkuk now".

UPDATES: Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki urges troops to fight back Islamist militants as 500,000 people fled Mosul

Islamist insurgents Attack Iraq's Tikrit after 500,000 are forced to flee Mosul

Islamist insurgents have overrun parts of the Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, after taking control of Iraq's biggest city Mosul.

The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has urged troops to fight back against the militants as up to 500,000 people fled Mosul after the al-Qa'ida splinter group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) overran the city.

Security sources said some parts of Tikrit, which is located 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, is now under the control of militants and dozens of the insurgents have reportedly been clashing with security forces near the headquarters of the government in the city centre.