"They are on their way to Kirkuk," said Salah, the "prime minister" of an autonomous zone of northern Iraq administered by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Hundreds of Kurdish policemen have already arrived in Kirkuk to restore order after the situation began spinning out of control earlier in the day, an AFP reporter saw.

Other Kurdish sources said US reinforcements were expected here by the end of the afternoon.

Salah said Kurdish fighters who captured the city Thursday along with US special forces would withdraw "as quickly as possible, but not before a sufficient number of American troops have arrived."

Talks being held to finalise details of the Kurdish pull-out and the installation of a provisional administration included representatives of Kirkuk's various ethnic communities and senior US officers, a leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party said.

Asked if the city would be administered by a US military governor, Salah replied: "We will work within the coalition framework."

The fall of Kirkuk, and of Mosul on Friday, has alarmed Turkey, which fears that Kurdish dominance just across its border would spark aspirations for independence among its own restive Kurdish minority.

Under US and Turkish pressure, PUK peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) were preparing to leave Kirkuk, their commander said.

"We are waiting for the American troops. The armed peshmerga are to leave the city Friday or tomorrow," said PUK general "Mam" Rostam.

A US Central Command spokeswoman in Qatar confirmed that "Mosul and Kirkuk have fallen" and in a press briefing, US Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said the Iraqi Army 5th Corps had signed a ceasefire agreement and that its troops would be going home.

In Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul confirmed Kurdish fighters had begun to leave Kirkuk.

Turkey has threatened to deploy its own troops in oil-rich northern Iraq if Kurdish forces remained in control of the two key cities.

SPACE.WIRE