Imperialist media and facts: Fighting Rages Between Kurds in N Iraq

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 (17:35) Fighting Rages Between Kurds in N Iraq

                                       
                                       
                                By Leon Barkho
                                       
                                       
BAGHDAD, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Monday fierce
fighting was raging between rival Kurdish groups in northern Iraq on
several fronts in the buffer zone separating their militias.
                                       
                                       
Eric Falt, spokesman for Iraq's U.N. coordinator, described the
situation as "serious" but declined comment on whether the fighting
was hampering distribution of humanitarian supplies under Iraq's
oil-for-food deal with the United Nations.

"It appears to be the most serious outbreak of violence in one year,"
Falt told Reuters. He said fighting erupted early this morning between
the guerrillas of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) under Jalal
Talabani and militias of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of
Massoud Barzani. "It (fighting) is continuing right now and on several
fronts," Falt said.

He gave no details on casualties or the number of people displaced as
a result of the clashes. Falt said the fighting had affected the
movement of U.N. relief workers in the area, and the battle zone,
extending from the town of Haj Omran on the Iranian border down to
Dokan Dam, was off limits to U.N. personnel.

"The U.N. office of the humanitarian coordinator in Arbil has
restricted movement of personnel to essential travel only in this
zone," he said.

He said it was too early to tell what impact the current fighting will
have on delivery of relief supplies to Iraqi Kurds.
                                       
Falt said so far the fighting had not extended to the cities of Arbil
and Sulaimaniya, two major Kurdish strongholds in the area.

Last year the KDP, under pressure from PUK forces, asked President
Saddam Hussein's military help to oust the PUK from the city of
Arbil. Baghdad recaptured Arbil for the KDP, prompting the United
States to launch missile strikes against air defence targets in
southrn Iraq.
                                       
Last month the KDP's Barzani asked Turkish troops to intervene to
offset gains in the region made by the Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK), which wants autonomy in south-east Turkey and uses bases in
northern Iraq for its armed struggle against Ankara.

The United Nations said on Sunday the Turkish incursion into northern
Iraq and inter-Kurdish feuding had hampered U.N. relief operations in
some parts of the region.
                                       
Iraq's Kurdish region is divided into two zones -- one under the
domain of Barzani and the other controlled by Talabani.

A U.N. document made available to reporters on Sunday said the Turkish
incursion had displaced about 10,000 Kurds. It said some 90,000 others
had been displaced by inter-Kurdish feuding in 1996.

In Ankara the KDP said in a statement that the PUK had launched a
"major offensive" against it. A PUK official confirmed the clashes but
said his group had only acted in self-defence.

"A large force of PUK (fighters) supported by heavy weapons attacked
KDP positions," the KDP statement said. The KDP has been fighting with
Turkish troops against the PKK in northern Iraq in recent weeks.

The United States maintains a no-fly zone over northern Iraq to
protect the Kurds from possible attacks by Iraqi armed forces.

The Kurds broke from Baghdad's rule after the 1991 Gulf War which
ousted Iraqi troops from Kuwait.


-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
The Struggle for justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan
http://www.ozgurluk.org                          
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