Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline: By YAHYA BARZANJI
Date: 20 August 2006
KIRKUK, Iraq_Iranian forces shelled border towns in an area where Kurdish
rebels operate, killing two people and wounding four, an Iranian-Kurdish
official said Sunday.
The Friday night assault, the latest in an alleged series, hit several
villages in the Qandil Mountain area, said Piryar Gabary of the anti-Iran
Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PEJAK. He said the casualties were
civilians, but that could not be independently verified.
Iranian Foreign Ministry officials could not be immediately reached for
comment on the incident.
Kurdish guerillas seeking autonomy from Iran and Turkey have used the
rugged, isolated Qandil Mountain in Iraq's northeast corner as a base. The
Iraqi-Kurd regional government has little effective control over the area.
Speaking by telephone from the Qandil Mountain town of Marado, Gabary said
at least five towns in the area, including Peshtashan and Kernata, were
attacked over the past week from the Turkish and Iranian sides.
Scores of families have fled the area to the outskirts of Sulaymaniyah, the
nearest major Iraqi city.
The United Nations estimates that 4,600 Iranian-Kurds have taken refuge in
the Kurdish areas of Iraq.
PEJAK, which was established in 2003, is made up of Kurdish groups from
Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria and is a close ally of the Kurdish Workers
Party, or PKK.
Last month, Turkey's prime minister said the military was considering
sending forces into northern Iraq to clear out bases used by Turkish-Kurdish
guerrillas. But he also said that officials were holding talks with the
United States and Iraq in an attempt to defuse tensions.
A Turkish cross-border operation would likely inflame tensions between
Turkey and the United States and destabilize one of the few calm areas of
Iraq. Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, is Kurdish.
Byline: By YAHYA BARZANJI
Date: 20 August 2006
KIRKUK, Iraq_Iranian forces shelled border towns in an area where Kurdish
rebels operate, killing two people and wounding four, an Iranian-Kurdish
official said Sunday.
The Friday night assault, the latest in an alleged series, hit several
villages in the Qandil Mountain area, said Piryar Gabary of the anti-Iran
Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PEJAK. He said the casualties were
civilians, but that could not be independently verified.
Iranian Foreign Ministry officials could not be immediately reached for
comment on the incident.
Kurdish guerillas seeking autonomy from Iran and Turkey have used the
rugged, isolated Qandil Mountain in Iraq's northeast corner as a base. The
Iraqi-Kurd regional government has little effective control over the area.
Speaking by telephone from the Qandil Mountain town of Marado, Gabary said
at least five towns in the area, including Peshtashan and Kernata, were
attacked over the past week from the Turkish and Iranian sides.
Scores of families have fled the area to the outskirts of Sulaymaniyah, the
nearest major Iraqi city.
The United Nations estimates that 4,600 Iranian-Kurds have taken refuge in
the Kurdish areas of Iraq.
PEJAK, which was established in 2003, is made up of Kurdish groups from
Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria and is a close ally of the Kurdish Workers
Party, or PKK.
Last month, Turkey's prime minister said the military was considering
sending forces into northern Iraq to clear out bases used by Turkish-Kurdish
guerrillas. But he also said that officials were holding talks with the
United States and Iraq in an attempt to defuse tensions.
A Turkish cross-border operation would likely inflame tensions between
Turkey and the United States and destabilize one of the few calm areas of
Iraq. Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, is Kurdish.