WORLD IN BRIEF : IRAQ : Kurd Fighter Says He Survived Massacre

Rebel Kurds fighting Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish forces in northern Iraq shot 18 of their own wounded rather than let them be captured, a man claiming to be the sole survivor said. “We were 18 wounded. We couldn’t walk. Each one was shot with a bullet in the head,” said Husni, 19, a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighter. “Only I survived.” There was no independent confirmation of his story. Turkish television reported a separate incident in which Turkish troops inside Iraq found a mass grave with bodies of what they said were PKK wounded killed by their comrades. PKK members use northern Iraq as a refuge in their battles with the Turks, while the Kurds of northern Iraq are anxious to maintain good ties with Turkey.