An Assassination, A Feud And The Fight For Power In Iraq's Kurdistan

The marriage of convenience between Iraqi Kurdistan's political dynasties is on the rocks.

While the dominant Barzani and Talabani clans have long been at loggerheads over power and resources in a region rich in oil and gas, power-sharing governments have largely kept a lid on mistrust since the two sides fought a civil war in the 1990s.

But the lingering acrimony has spilled into the open with a vengeance since a rare assassination in the city of Erbil, and the fallout is putting the uneasy alliance through one of its stiffest tests since the war, diplomats and analysts say.