They said Kurds took over production facilities at Bai Hassan and Kirkuk oilfields early on Friday.
Meanwhile, Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani urged fighters to respect the rights of all Iraqis, regardless of sect or politics, after an escalation in apparent sectarian killings in recent weeks.
"We would like to stress to all our armed forces and those volunteers who have joined them ... the necessity of strict and full commitment in taking care of the rights of all the people, and not to transgress against any innocent citizen no matter their sectarian or ethnic affiliation or whatever their political stance," Sistani said in a sermon delivered by an aide.
On another note, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said the Kurdish political bloc has ended all participation in the national government in protest over Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's saying that Kurds are hosting terrorists in their capital Arbil.
"We have suspended our government business," said Zebari.
The Kurds said on Thursday they were cancelling their participation in cabinet meetings. However, Zebari told Reuters that Kurdish ministers were now suspending their day-to-day running of his ministry, the trade ministry, the ministry of migration, the health ministry and the deputy premiership. REUTERS