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DAMASCUS, June 6 (AFP) - 18h46 - Representatives
of banned Kurdish parties met with Arab tribal
chiefs in northeastern Syria Monday in a bid to calm
sectarian tensions following bloody clashes over the
weekend, a Kurdish leader said.
A security force action in Qamishli Sunday to
disperse Kurdish demonstrators angry at the
abduction and murder of a leading Muslim cleric had
"turned into Arab-Kurdish clashes", Kurdish
Progressive Democrat Party leader Aziz Daud told AFP
by telephone from the town.
Yakiti party leader Hassan Saleh said the situation
in Qamishli remained tense after several
demonstrators were wounded and dozens arrested.
Daud said 50 Kurdish-owned shops had been ransacked
by militiamen during the clashes.
Qamishli has been on edge since deadly clashes in
March last year pitted Kurdish protestors against
security forces and Arab tribesmen.
The Syrian authorities said that 25 people were
killed. Kurdish sources put the death toll as high
as 40.
The latest violence followed the kidnapping and
murder of popular local cleric Mohammed Maashuq
Khaznawi.
The Syrian authorities said two people had already
been detained in what it promised would be a full
investigation.
But the fact that the death was first announced by
underground Kurdish sources and only later confirmed
by the government sparked widespread scepticism
among Syria's Kurdish minority.
Syria's 1.5 million Kurds make up about nine percent
of the population and are mainly concentrated in the
north.
Some 200,000 have been denied Syrian citizenship,
making it difficult for them to find work in the
state-controlled economy.
AFP
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