Kirkuk, a center of the Kurdish community, is the site of the furnace into which Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown when they refused to worship an idol. There's little to see in this area now, except the oil-drilling equipment (this is a major oil area). Kirkuk has a mosque dedicated to the biblical prophet Daniel.
Although Kirkuk is currently controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga forces, it is outside the four governorates of Iraqi Kurdistan. Travelers between Erbil and Sulaymaniyah who have only a Kurdish passport stamp and not a full Iraqi visa must use the northern route via Koysinjaq, which avoids the Kirkuk Governorate completely. Kirkuk is 150 mi/240 km north of Baghdad.
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