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The senior American
military commander in Kurdistan (northern Iraq) says
all the Iraqi army units in his area will take the
operational lead in the region by early 2007.
Meanwhile, three U.S. soldiers were killed south of
Baghdad, and there are reports of clashes between
Iranian forces and Kurdish separatists in Kurdistan
(northern Iraq) along the border.
Reports say Iranian troops have been shelling
Kurdish enclaves in Iraq and have crossed the border
in the past several weeks to battle armed Kurdish
separatists.
In a briefing from Iraq Friday, Army Major General
Thomas Turner, commander of Multinational
Division-North and the 101st Airborne Division, said
he had received reports of the clashes between
Kurdish and Iranian forces in his operational area,
but that no American troops were involved.
"The area where the reported fight occurred was due
north of Erbil in very restricted terrain, very
mountainous terrain," he said. "And the reports are
that Iranians attempted to come across and also
shelled three cities. And the Iraqi government is
dealing with that issue now. We do not have any
Americans along the border up in that area."
The separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has
accused Iran and Turkey of coordinating attacks
against Kurdish enclaves in Iraq. Analysts say both
countries are concerned that the autonomy enjoyed by
Iraqi Kurds since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003
will spark unrest among their own Kurdish
populations.
In his briefing, beamed by satellite to Pentagon
reporters, General Turner said Iraqi army units will
take the lead in operations in northern Iraq by
early 2007.
"All Iraqi army units in AO [area of operations]
North are in the fight," he said. "Those that have
not assumed an area of operations, it is generally
due to a lack of equipment or specialized training,
and those units are fighting alongside ours. We
anticipate that all Iraqi army units in our AO
operating in the lead by early next year."
He said al-Qaida in Iraq under the leadership of Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi remains the greatest threat in the
area under his command.
"Foreign terrorists continue to make their way into
the community, and there's a homegrown element of
the organization throughout our AO," he added. "The
more success we have against al-Qaida, the more
willing Iraqi citizens are willing to report
terrorist activity."
Meanwhile, three American soldiers were killed
Friday by a roadside bomb in Babil province, south
of Baghdad. A U.S. military statement says their
vehicle was attacked near the town of Mahaweel, 75
kilometers south of Baghdad.
VOAnews com
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