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Iran shells Kurd positions into
Kurdistan-Iraq: Kurd official
21.4.2006
By Shamal Aqrawi
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ERBIL,
Kurdistan-Iraq, April 21 - Iranian forces shelled
Iranian Kurdish rebel positions inside mountainous
northern Iraq (Kurdistan-Iraq) early on Friday to
repel an attack, an Iraqi Kurdish official said.
"This morning Iranian Kurdish fighters infiltrated
the border into the Iranian side and the Iranian
army bombed the area and repelled them. The shelling
hit Iraqi land at Sidakan," said Saadi Pira, an
official in Iraq's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
party.
There was no word on casualties in the shelling of
the rebels of the Iranian Party of Free Life of
Kurdistan (PJAK). Sidakan is about 80 km (50 miles)
north of the northern Iraqi city of Erbil and about
10 km (6 miles) from the Iranian border.
News of the incident could fuel tensions in Iraq,
where Sunni Arab leaders accuse Shi'ite Iran of
meddling in the country's internal affairs.
There was no word on the shelling from Iraq's
Defence Ministry.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have previously clashed
with PJAK separatists in Iran's restive western
borderlands.
Security experts say PJAK is an Iranian wing of the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose separatist
struggle regained momentum in southeastern Turkey
(Kurdistan-Turkey) after it called off a unilateral
ceasefire in the summer of 2004.
Turkey has long been concerned about PKK rebel bases
in northern Iraq, which it frequently attacked
before the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam
Hussein in 2003.
Dozens of guerrillas and members of Turkey's
security forces have been killed in fighting in
recent months, and a group linked to the PKK has
claimed several bomb attacks in Istanbul.
Ankara, which has up to 250,000 troops in
southeastern Turkey, has sent an extra 40,000
soldiers to the area to prepare for an expected rise
in PKK incursions from northern Iraq, a senior
Turkish military official said on Thursday.
Turkey's Daily Aksam said on Friday 50,000 troops
were massed at the borders with Iran and Iraq and
that the army planned to extend its fight against
PKK beyond Turkey's border.
Iraqi Kurdish officials said they were concerned
over the reports that Turkey was deploying troops
for possible attacks on PKK rebels in northern Iraq.
But Western diplomats in Ankara said they were not
aware of specific plans by the army to fight the PKK
in Iraq. The United States has made clear its
opposition to any such cross-border action. Ankara
is pressing the Americans to flush out the PKK.
Turkey has long been concerned about the regional
autonomy enjoyed by Iraqi Kurds, fearing it might
encourage similar aspirations among its own Kurdish
population. (Additional reporting by Paul Debendern
in Ankara, writing by Michael Georgy; editing by
Sami Aboudi)
Reuters
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