STORY: Kurdish forces defending the oil city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq received reinforcements on Saturday (August 9).
Firat News Agency pictures show a convoy of trucks carrying troops on the road to Kirkuk from Rania and receiving waves and cheers from people lined along the roadside in then town.
Islamic State militants have launched attacks on the town, held by Kurdish forces since government troops melted away in June as the extremists advanced.
Firat News Agency said the fighters were from the HPG -- the PKK's armed wing.
The PKK, which has spent three decades fighting for autonomy for Turkey's Kurds, on Monday (August 4) urged all Kurds to take up the fight against the Sunni militants of Islamic State, who have expanded their advance across Iraq into Kurdish-controlled territory.
The Kurds populate an area that extends from southeastern Turkey through northeastern Syria and northern Iraq, into western Iran.
