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An edge $e$ of a $k$-connected graph $G$ is said to be $k$-contractible (or simply contractible) if the graph obtained from $G$ by contracting $e$ (i.e., deleting $e$ and identifying its ends, finally, replacing each of the resulting pairs of double edges by a single edge) is still $k$-connected. In 2002, Kawarabayashi proved that for any odd integer $k\ge 5$, if $G$ is a $k$-connected graph and $G$ contains no subgraph $D=K_1+(K_2\cup K_{1,2})$, then $G$ has a $k$-contractible edge. In this paper, by generalizing this result, we prove that for any integer...