Kurdish irregular forces, known as peshmergas, took Kirkuk without a fight, moving into the key oil city to quell what they said was a popular uprising following the departure of troops loyal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

They were discreetly accompanied by US special forces, who have been advising and assisting the coalition's proxy "northern front" against the Iraqi regime.

Wearing green bandanas, Kalashnikhov-carrying peshmergas of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main Kurdish factions governing Iraqi Kurdistan, entered the city in the early afternoon.

They were welcomed as liberators by residents, who shouted "Welcome, Welcome, Saddam is finished, Bush Bush". Some tore down portraits of the Iraqi strongman, others took knives to his face on posters plastered across the city.

And like other cities across the country in which Iraqi forces have turned on their heels in the wake of the coalition's military push, looters plundered administrative buildings, making off with whatever they could carry.

Chairs and tables were dragged through the streets. Some people used vehicles to carry their spoils of war, packing pick-up trucks high with refrigerators and televisions.

A supermarket belonging to Saddam's Baath party was completely emptied of its stock and a Pepsi-Cola factory looted.

Government buildings were left practically empty, documents and broken glass strewn across the ground.

At the beginning of afternoon, only the suburbs were a hive of activity. The centre remained deserted, its residents worried that government forces might return.

However, little by little people appeared on the streets, reassured by the presence of US troops and the white off-road vehicles, to take their first public glimpse at the post-Saddam city.

A sledgehammer was taken to the bronze statue of Saddam wearing traditional Arab dress. Several hours later it fell to cries of "Down with Saddam, Bush, Bush!"

Abdulkarim Abdulrahman, a Kurd whose home was taken by Saddam's regime as part of its "Arabization" of the city, laughed as he watched the scene. "I am really very happy. It is the sign of democracy and freedom for the whole world."

Mohammad Omar, a member of Kirkuk's Turkmen community, said he was rendered almost speechless by the scenes. "Over the past 30 years we were tortured by the regime. I feel as though I was reborn today."

Arab residents were nowhere to be seen. Rizgarali Hamgam, Kirkuk's "governor in exile" who took up his post on Thursday, said the majority had left the city before the war, with only a few families remaining.

"The war is a bad thing for me," said one Arab on condition of anonymity. "This change of regime will not make a big difference and the Americans came here only to build an empire."

As soon as those living outside the city heard of its fall, thousands of Kurds began pouring in, vowing to reclaim their confiscated homes and property.

"I want to return to my house," said Delshad Obeid, who was driven out of his home in 1992.

Caught in a traffic jam of vehicles flocking into the city, Obeid said he did not know if his home still stands but vowed that if he found anyone in there he "will take it back by force".

Many Kurds returning home were heavily armed.

But Ahmad Baha Eddine said he was returning with no thoughts of violence.

"Me, I just want to see my family who I haven't seen for 11 years. Nobody has come to steal or plunder."

The seizure of Kirkuk has sharply revived fears in Turkey of a wider Kurdish bid for independence.

Ankara, which has threatened to intervene militarily in northern Iraq if local Kurds are allowed to take over Kirkuk or Mosul, again warned Thursday that any bid by the Kurds to retain permanent control of Kirkuk would be inadmissible.

But later, Turkey said it had won a pledge from the United States to remove Kurdish fighters who captured Kirkuk, and an Iraqi Kurdish official told AFP their forces would leave the town on Friday.

SPACE.WIRE