Insurgents Target Kurdish Fighters in Mosul
Azzaman,
May 1, 2007
Kurdish
political factions operating in the Sunni Arab-dominated Province of Nineveh
have become a main target for attacks by insurgent groups in the area.
In the
past few weeks, offices of Kurdish parties which are heavily protected by
Kurdish peshmerga were hit by a series of car bomb attacks in which scores of
Kurdish fighters were killed and many injured.
The
insurgents have so far destroyed three main offices of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) of the Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region.
The
Kurds have extended their influence and control to the peripheries of Mosul, the
provincial capital. Kurdish forces patrol the city’s outlying towns and villages
and set up checkpoint on main roads leading to it.
Mosul is
a major insurgent stronghold and insurgent leaders fear Kurdish practices might
choke their supply routes.
A senior
Kurdish official is number two in Nineveh provincial council to represent a
sizeable Kurdish community in the city.
The
official, Khisro Koran, a senior KDP member and deputy governor of Nineveh, said
the attacks were meant to “embroil the Kurds in the current sectarian fighting”
in the country.
He said
Kurds in Mosul and other areas were being subjected “to a campaign of
liquidation,” forcing thousands of them to flee.
The
insurgents operate conspicuously in Mosul and kidnap or kill officials or
residents who do not heed their instructions.
