Kurdish Peshmerga troops and tanks are deployed on the outskirts of Kirkuk, some 250km (155 miles) north of Baghdad December 3, 2012. Iraq's Kurdish region has sent reinforcements to a disputed area where its troops are involved in a standoff with the Iraqi army, a senior Kurdish military official said, despite calls on both sides for dialogue to calm the situation. Picture taken December 3, 2012. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed