so too did the identity of the Peshmerga as a key part of Kurdish culture - evolving from tribal defenders to nationalist fighters for an independent Kurdish state.

image copyright Getty Images image caption Following the 1991 uprisings in Iraq, the Peshmerga succeeded in pushing out Iraqi forces from the north

image copyright Getty Images image caption In 1992 the rival Kurdish KDP and PUK factions established the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government

When did the Peshmerga force begin?

The modern-day Peshmerga are mostly veterans from the fighting against Iraqi government forces, and from infighting between Kurdish factions.

After World War One the region of Kurdistan, previously a strategic buffer area between the Ottoman and Persian empires, began to see itself as one of several nation states newly created in the region, carved outfrom the remains of the Ottoman Empire - Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

The regional disarray left a power vacuum, and Kurds began vying for an independent state of their own.

Disputed areas in Iraq's Kurdish region

The Iran-Iraq War

By the 1970s, Kurds had become divided between two factions controlling the north and south of Iraqi Kurdistan. However, they both soon came into conflict against the Iraqi state - rival Kurdish tribes united and the movement for independence was strengthened.

By the time of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s the Peshmerga had developed into an effective guerrilla fighting force.

Many Kurdish fighters were defectors from Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army, and when the Peshmerga united across tribes to claim territory in Iraqi Kurdistan, Saddam Hussein decided to act.

Halabja attack of 1988

image copyright IRNA/AFP image