Rival Kurds Vie for Key Town in N. Iraq
An Iraqi Kurdish militia backed by President Saddam Hussein battled with a resurgent rival group in northern Iraq on Tuesday in a bid to win back ground lost in seesaw fighting.
The Baghdad-backed militiamen pushed their rivals six miles back in a counterattack aimed at retaking a key town, witnesses said.
About 2,000 fighters of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) deployed near the town of Degala moved closer to their target, Kuysanjaq, but fighting was interrupted by the passage of a U.N. aid convoy of 47 grain trucks.
“We are now just waiting for a new order to continue our final attack,” said Robitran Ibrahim, commander of the KDP forces in Degala.
There was no clear evidence of outside forces involved in the fighting, part of a long Kurdish feud shaping up as a proxy conflict between adversaries Iran and Iraq.
Ibrahim said his men had captured Iranians fighting alongside the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and sent them to the KDP stronghold of Salahuddin.
Iran denies KDP charges that it has sent men, arms and ammunition to help the PUK.
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