The renewed calm is a stark contrast to the two days of looting and score-settling that gripped the city after US-backed Kurdish forces took it on April 10, but the situation was not as bad as in Mosul to the north, where unrest is ongoing.

Shops have reopened and Kurdish fighters over the weekend pulled out of the city to be replaced by US troops, in line with demands by Turkey which feared Kurdish control of the oil-rich town would strengthen the prospect of Kurdish secession.

Oil and gas workers are expected to return to work Saturday, as are school and government employees, said Faraidun Abdul Kader, who considers himself the "interim governor" of the city.

Government buildings that were sacked in the unrest have been cleaned and couches have even been placed in some halls. Saddam Hussein's portrait is still on the wall, but, significantly, is lacking a face.

"Water, electricity, telephones have been restored," said Kader, pleased that looting had died down. Salaries, unpaid for two months, could be given out next month, he added.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), whose fighters arrived in the city ahead of US troops, is running three hospitals, cleaning roads and repairing local radio and television station offices.

It is possible the PUK will seek to maintain Kirkuk under its control. The city, with its Arab, Kurdish, Turkoman, Assyrian and Chaldean population, is historically Kurdish but remained under Saddam's control after 1991.

The Kurds have said they consider it their future capital.

But faced with a threatened Turkish military intervention in north Iraq to ensure the Kurds do not control the oil-rich regions between Mosul and Kirkuk, the United States has asserted its authority over the cities.

Though Kader, the PUK's "interior minister", considers himself interim governor of the town, US army major Jeff Cantor quickly dismissed the claim. "There's no civil governor of Kirkuk, Colonel Mayville is the military commander of Kirkuk, he has the upper hand on every decision," he said.

Cantor said the renewed calm here was largely a result of US efforts: "We provided people with what they need: water, electricity, that helps significantly."

The government buildings are heavily guarded by US troops, who nervously watch crowd movements nearby, notably following deadly shoot-outs in Mosul earlier this week, which saw many civilians killed.

On the balconies, some 20 US troops stand guard, cocking their weapons at anything suspicious.

Maintaining security is the priority. "The politics will follow once everything is in line," Cantor said.

A city municipal council has been created, including six representatives of Kirkuk's four main communities.

Cantor, who has also served in Bosnia and Kosovo, said he was "impressed by the way everyone is cooperating and getting along," and added that if things remained so Kirkuk could become a "model city" for the rest of Iraq.

For his part, Kader said the Kurds wanted Kirkuk to be part of a "democratic and federal" Iraq. It is not a Kurdish city but an Iraqi city, he stressed.

In fact, it is not known whether Kirkuk has a majority Kurdish population. Following the 1991 Gulf War when most of Iraqi Kurdistan came under the control of Kurdish forces, backed by US and British airpower, Kirkuk remained under the authority of Baghdad.

Saddam's regime continued an active policy of settling Arabs in and around the city and there has not been a census in a long time.

The calm in Kirkuk contrasts with the situation in the nearby countryside, where residents of Arab villagers have taken up arms against what they say are wondering bands of Kurdish looters.

SPACE.WIRE