KDP/PUK Fighting Resumes In South K

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.etext.org>
Subject: KDP/PUK Fighting Resumes In South Kurdistan

Fighting Rages Between Kurds In Northern 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 defense
targets in southern 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-defense.
     "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.

(Source: Press Agency Ozgurluk, http://www.ozgurluk.org)

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