Iraqi Kurdish forces clash with rivals near Iran
Iraqi Kurdish forces clash with rivals near Iran
SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuter): Fighting between Iraqi Kurdish forces in northern Iraq inched closer to the Iranian border, one of the feuding factions said yesterday.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) official Shorsh Jalalal said the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) group struck at PUK positions in five villages around Halabja, 10 kilometers from the Iranian border.
"But with the support of new forces moved into position, control of three of the villages was regained late last night," Jalalal told Reuters.
The latest attacks marked an expansion of the front in the inter-Kurdish fighting, which took on fresh urgency last weekend with Baghdad's intervention on behalf of the KDP.
The PUK leader Jalal Talabani has said he would seek Iranian help if necessary to counter joint attacks by the KDP and Baghdad's forces, which teamed up last weekend to oust the PUK from the main Kurdish city of Arbil.
Turkey has indicated that it might also join in the fray, moving forces in to stop anti-Ankara Kurdish separatists of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from using the region as a springboard for attacks in southeast Turkey.
PUK officials said joint forces of the KDP and Iraq began to advance from Arbil along the north route towards PUK's stronghold Sulaimaniya, via Degala and the key town of Koi Sanjaq.
The KDP said it had killed more than 100 PUK guerrillas in fighting around Arbil, but the PUK said the casualty figures were exaggerated.
Baghdad's move into the Western-protected north drew U.S. cruise missile attacks on targets south of the Iraqi capital. Washington said on Thursday that Iraqi troops had withdrawn.
However, opposition groups report continued Iraqi involvement in support of a KDP advance along the main road toward Sulaimaniya.
A Reuters reporter who toured the region south of Arbil on Thursday saw Iraqi tanks dug in but no evidence that they were engaged in the latest fighting.
"Iraqi regular army, Republican Guards and KDP forces moved their direction to Degala and Koi Sanjaq, where the land is flat," said Riza Ghafur, head of the PUK foreign relations office. He said the forces had advanced seven kilometers.
He said the KDP and Iraqi troops also continued to shell Chamchamal, on another route to Sulaimaniya. Sulaimaniya is around 120 kilometers southeast of Arbil.
According to the PUK, the joint forces are supported by 100 tanks and rockets and had on Friday morning captured Qushtapa, a town 22 kilometers south of Arbil.
KDP spokesmen say more than 100 PUK guerrillas and a handful of KDP fighters were killed in fighting around Arbil in the past two days. It denied there was any fighting near Iran.
In the United Nations, a week after Iraqi troops went on the offensive against Kurds, the UN Security Council was unable to take a common position on Baghdad's action that unleashed U.S. cruise missile attacks.
The council expects to discuss a British-drafted resolution again on Friday after Russian envoys consult with Moscow over new compromise language. "A final effort is being made to find an agreement," said Britain's Stephen Gomersall.
The deadlock illustrates the crumbling of the coalition that backed Washington in the Gulf War, with the United States coming under increasing criticism for firing cruise missiles against Iraq and then claiming it had UN authorization to do so. Britain, however, remains a strong supporter.
For the past 24 hours Russia has opposed and even threatened to veto the resolution, which was watered down considerably in rapping Iraq for going into the Kurdish north. China agreed with Russia and France had some reservations, as did Egypt and Indonesia.
"What is the point of the resolution?," said Russian ambassador Sergei Lavrov, noting the United States had accomplished its mission in two air strikes in response to Baghdad's attack on the Kurdish city of Arbil.