The Kurdish paper, Hawlati, reported that deep divisions have surfaced
among the leadership of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) that
could lead to serious consequences for the party and its leader Mr.
Talabani.
More
A bomb hidden
near the Baghdad home of Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari was discovered and
defused Sunday, police said. In July, gunmen had opened fire on a car
belonging to Zebari killing one official and wounding two others. He was not
in the
vehicle at the time, reported AP
An Arab
Islamic group said it had assassinated the chief of police in Arbil and
warned to kill Kurdish leader Barzani. "This is a clear message to the ally
of the Jews, the agent Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party, to tell the scoundrel that we are coming and the hands of the
mujahideen will soon reach you, God willing, and America cannot help you,"
said the statement which was dated Sunday, reported Reuters
Two Turkish soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit a land mine in
Northern Kurdistan, reported the state owned news agency Anatolia. Also,
Anatolia said four soldiers were injured in a land mine explosion near the
city of Amed.
In an
official visit to Washington, the Kurdish PM Nechirvan Barzani arrived
in Washington late last week to explain his administration's stance on
several important issues regarding Southern Kurdistan and Iraq, a KDP
official told the Kurdistan Observer today.
More
A member of the
Turkoman Front political group was assassinated today in Southern Kurdistan
while driving his children to school, police said. Col. Burhan Taha said
politician Ghafour Abu Bakr was killed at 8.30am (local time) in Kirkuk when
unknown attackers opened fire, killing him and slighting injuring his two
children, reported Reuters yesterday.
----------------
Iraq's Christians who are
increasingly targeted by insurgents, are fleeing Baghdad for the safety of
the Southern Kurdistan, reported AP.
----------------
The US military said three soldiers, a marine
and a civilian translator were killed and one soldier wounded in two car
bombings on Friday, one in the northern city of Mosul and another near the
city of Qaim on Iraq's border with Syria. Also on
Saturday, a Kurd working
for the education ministry was shot dead in Mosul, reported AFP.
----------------
Kurdistan
Democratic Party is planning to launch a new satellite TV channel in
Southern Kurdistan. The new station, which will be called Zagros TV, will
start its broadcasting programs on November 1 of this year.
The KDP
leader Massoud Barzani began a three-day visit to Syria on Friday. Barzani,
who arrived form Jordan, said he would discuss a number of subjects with
Syrian leaders. They included federalism in Iraq, relations between the two
countries and the question of Kirkuk, reported AFP
Oct
15, 2004
•
News Snapshot
Syrian regime have arrested
three Kurds, human rights lawyer Anwar Bunni said on Thursday. "Military
security arrested three Kurds in the town of Amuda as part of the clampdown
linked to the fatal riots that took place last March in the northeast, he
said, repeating his call for political prisoners to be freed, reported AFP
----------------
A
representative of the PUK says that his party is prepared for an armed
struggle to ensure Kirrkuk’s Kurdistani identity. “We and the KDP share the
same view regarding this issue,” Sadon Faili, the PUK spokesperson in
Baghdad told daily Al-Hayat, referring to the culturally-stirred conflict of
Kirkuk, reported Peyamner
"I've been
doing grave sites for a long time, but I've never seen anything like this:
women and children executed for no apparent reason," said Mr Kehoe, who
spent five years investigating mass graves in Bosnia for the International
Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia.
More
Leyla Zana finally received
the European Parliament's Sakharov prize for human rights Wednesday after
being released in June from a decade in Turkish detention
----------------
According
to the Turkish daily paper Aksham, the Turkish president warned Barzani not
to follow the Isreali path, adding that Israel is the source of conflict
since it was established. Aksham also reports that Mr Barzani was told that
neither Turkey nor the neighboring countries will accept federalism that
would lead to an independent Kurdistan, and if Kurds go this way, they will
likely lose what they have achieved so far.
Massoud Barzani said that the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in Southern Kurdistan
had a Kurdish "identity" and vowed to fight any force attempting to oppress
its people, whether Kurds or other ethnic groups.
More
Turkey will face a
very stringent inspection mechanism on human rights and cultural freedoms
(read that as "Kurdish rights)." Additionally, if there are any unfortunate
developments concerning the military's influence in politics and foreign
relations -- like military intervention in a neighboring country -- the
negotiations will be suspended immediately, said
TDN columnist Gunduz Aktan
----------------
A German
delegation from the Baviera State visited Amed, Northern Kurdistan. The
delegation's Chairman Gabriel Goltz said they came to Amed to observe the
services given by the local authorities and the developments in the
villages, directly.
In a joint press
conference in Irbil with the British Foreign Minister Jack straw who arrived
in Irbil on Tuesday, the Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said "Our
policy and stance is clear, we refuse to compromise on any grounds regarding
Kirkuk," refuting the speculations that UK puts pressure on the Kurdish
leaders to make concessions on Kirkuk.
In a second day of
demonstrations in the Kurdish city of Kirkuk, protestors brandished banners
calling for the departure of the Arabs and the return of Kurds chased from
their homes as part of Saddam's efforts to change its population makeup.
Demonstrators also called for the departure of loyalists of the old regime
they accused of blocking the return of displaced Kurds.
----------------
A Turkish
soldier and a Kurdish rebel were killed in Northern Kurdistan, Turkish
state news agency Anatolia reported Sunday.
In several Kurdish cities
across Southern Kurdistan, tens of thousands of Kurds demonstrated,
demanding an independent Kurdistan with Kirkuk as its capital.
----------------
A Turkish soldier was killed
and three others were wounded Saturday in fighting with Kurdish fighters in
Northern Kurdistan, the Anatolia news agency reported.
----------------
The newly appointed Secretary General of KDP
in Eastern (Iranian) Kurdistan, Mustafa Hijiri, says that his party has
detailed information about Al Qaida training camps in Iran. "We have
detailed intelligence reports on the training locations of members belonging
to Al Qaida and Ansar al Islam organizations," Hijiri said in an interview
published by Kurdish daily Medya.
America Declares the battle for Fallujah is
won. But in Mosul, mortar attacks continue
The Independent
By
Charles Glass in Mosul
19 November 2004
The mortars flew into the governor's compound
from the neighbouring houses. They found an oil tanker, which erupted in flames.
Elsewhere in this northern city, rocket-propelled grenades strucka US convoy.
The military operation to control Fallujah was
deemed a success by the Iraqi provisional government yesterday. But this is the
battle for Mosul. And it continues. Yesterday's attacks were typical of the
manner in which the struggle for this city, three times the size of Fallujah, is
being played out. Small-scale insurgent attacks ensure that American military
patrols fall short of controlling the city.
Earlier this week, a US military spokeswoman
claimed US forces had retaken two-thirds of the city's police stations, although
the insurgents had never captured more than eight about one-third. In a
statement broadcast on local television, the governor, who had four of his
guards wounded in the attack, urged Mosul residents to help "prevent" similar
attacks. But unlike in Fallujah, the insurgents in Mosul are harassing American
troops and their Kurdish allies while minimising the risk to themselves.
Sadi Ahmed Pire, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
(PUK) Party representative, said the Baath party had regrouped in Mosul and was
directing attacks. He said: "The Baath is in charge. The Islamists are following
...
"The [insurgent] plan was to eliminate the
police stations, the Kurdish [party] offices and then the Kurdish community. The
Baath party worked to create an ethnic war."
Kurdish intelligence sources believe that the
Baath party reorganised its forces at a secret meeting at Hasakah, northern
Syria, two months ago. At this meeting, the Iraqi Baathists are said to have
elected a new leaderto succeed Saddam Hussein, Younes al-Ahmad.
It is impossible to confirm these reports, but
Mosul has long been a bastion of support for Arab nationalism in general and
Baathism in particular. It is unlikely this died with the Baathist regime in
Baghdad.
Outside the PUK headquarters, Kurdish fighters
fired heavy automatic weapons at insurgents, who fired mortars at Kurdish
positions. Mr Pire insisted controlling Mosul was vital to preserving security
in the Kurdish regional government zone a few miles to the east.
There were bullet holes on the PUK headquarters
from a two-hour battle last Friday. "I was here," Mr Pire said. "My guards took
part. Everyone here had to take part." He added that the attack on the
headquarters had left 16 insurgents dead and six had been captured. As he spoke,
American jets, which strafed parts of the city last Thursday, roared overhead.
How the struggle for control of Mosul will
unfold is anything but clear. The Tigris river, snaking from north to south,
bisects the city into the Arab right or west bank and the Kurdish left or
east bank. Thousands of Arabs and Kurds live in each other's areas. So, too,
do the Turkoman and Christian minorities, leading to fears of ethnic cleansing.
Killings have already begun. "They killed eight Kurds on the right side," Mr
Pire said of the insurgents on the west bank. "More than 30 families have been
expelled."
A Kurdish newspaper reported Kurdish homes in
the city, as well as Kurds wearing traditional clothing, had been attacked. Many
Kurds and Christians have left Mosul for the Kurdish-controlled region.
Earlier this week I witnessed an exchange
between a suspected insurgent,Mohammed Salem Jassem At-Ta'ee, 23, and his
Kurdish captors as Mr At-Ta'ee lay bleeding on the floor of a PUK Party office
in Mosul.
The Kurds claimed that Mr At-Ta'ee, an Arab,
was one of four insurgents who attacked a PUK checkpoint. He claimed he was just
passing at the time of the attack. "You are Saudi," an officer told him. Mr At-Ta'ee
insisted he was Iraqi and lived in the Rashidieh quarter. When asked what he was
doing so far from his own part of Mosul, he said he was shopping. "My brother is
getting married in two days, so I would not do anything like that," he said.
