Human Rights Watch warns about Kurd/Iraqi gov't friction

BAGHDAD (AP) — A human rights group says the running dispute between Iraq's central government and Kurdish authorities could erupt into a "human rights catastrophe."

Human Rights Watch says it fears for Christians and other minorities in the northern part of the country, who it says have been targeted by insurgents. The group faults Iraq's central government for not protecting them better.

Human Rights Watch is also critical of Kurdish authorities, who the group says are intimidating those who resist Kurdish "expansionist plans." The intimidation is said to include arbitrary arrests and detentions.

Iraq's northern region of Kurdistan, which is semi-autonomous, has been involved in a territorial dispute with the Arab-dominated central government for years. The dispute includes the oil-rich city of Kirkuk (keer-KOOK').

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: Citizens shop at a market in central Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Oct 3, 2009. Iraqi politicians are debating with new hostility over control of Kirkuk, a shabby northern city set near rich oil fields that both the self-ruling Kurds and the central government want. The deadlock threatens to delay Iraq's nationwide elections set for mid-January, and in turn could possibly disrupt American plans to withdraw troops shortly after.