At least 26 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and Sunni Arab protesters in northern Iraq, officials say.
Violence erupted when security forces raided an anti-government protest camp in Hawija, near Kirkuk.
There have been weekly demonstrations against Iraq's Shia-led government by Sunni Arabs across the country since the end of last year.
The latest incident comes as Iraq awaits the results of provincial polls.
The elections were the first since the last US troops withdrew from Iraq at the end of December 2011 and followed an escalation of sectarian violence.
The town of Hawija has been under siege since Friday when an Iraqi officer was killed in clashes with protesters there. Security forces demanded that the suspects be handed over but residents did not comply, says the BBC Arabic's Rafid Jabboori in Baghdad.
A final attempt at mediation broke down on Monday night and troops were sent in at dawn, our correspondent adds. The Iraqi government claimed its forces came under attack and had to respond.
But protesters said they were staging an unarmed sit-in when soldiers opened fire, Reuters news agency reports.
Security forces and demonstrators died in Tuesday's clashes, officials said.
There were reports of attacks on army posts and checkpoints in the area apparently in retaliation.
It is the first time the Iraqi army has resorted to force to end the months-long Sunni protest movement.
Sunnis accuse the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of discriminating against them. The government denies the accusations and says that protesters have been infiltrated by militant groups.
Call for restraintThe violence came hours after UN special envoy Martin Kobler called for calm in Hawija.
"I encourage the Iraqi security forces to exercise the utmost self-restraint in maintaining law and order and the demonstrators to continue to preserve the peaceful character of the demonstrations," he said in a statement.
With its massive oil reserves, Kirkuk - home to a mixture of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen - is one of the most bitterly contested of Iraq's disputed territories.
The Kurds want to incorporate it into their largely autonomous region, while Arabs and Turkmen oppose any change to its current status, ruled directly from Baghdad.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis in Sunni-dominated areas have been protesting against Prime Minister Maliki in recent months, accusing his government of targeting their minority community and marginalising Sunni political leaders.
There was widespread violence in the run-up to the election held on 20 April.
Dozens of people died in bombings targeting mainly Shia areas last week.
Fourteen candidates, most of them Sunnis, were murdered.
The government was eventually forced to postpone the vote in two Sunni-dominated provinces.
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