Story highlights Voting ends at 6 p.m. local time, results due in 72 hoursIran and Turkey fear a vote for independence in Iraq might galvanize similar movements in their countriesIrbil, Iraq (CNN) Iraqi Kurds have started casting their ballots in a controversial independence referendum Monday as tensions between Iraq's largest ethnic minority and the Iraqi government in Baghdad intensified. Voting got underway at 8 a.m. local time (1 a.m. ET) and will end at 6 p.m. local time (10 a.m. Today is a historical day," said Qubad Talabani, deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) after he voted at a polling station in Sulaymaniyah. He said the referendum needn't be viewed as a threat by neighboring countries.

Source: CNN September 25, 2017 05:32 UTC