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Al Zarqawi's men bring terror to the area
of Kirkuk
28.7.2006
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Baghdad, The oil-rich northern Kurdish province
of Kirkuk is becoming the second deadliest city in
Iraq after the capital, Baghdad.
At least 50 people were killed due to an upsurge in
terrorist attacks in the past few days.
Speaking to Gulf News, General Anwar Mohammad Amin,
commander of the Iraqi army in Kirkuk, is blaming
terror gangs for the killings after they relocated
their base of operations here.
He said intense security operations launched by
Iraqi and US forces following the death of Al Qaida
leader Abu Musaab Al Zarqawi in the nearby province
of Diyala has forced remnants of the terror cell to
flee to his area.
Aside from the problem of having the Al Qaida
infiltrating the ranks of insurgents loyal to ousted
president Saddam Hussain, security forces in Kirkuk
are also busy trying to defuse ethnic tension
between Arabs and Turkmen and the Kurds.
Authorities here are trying to implement
confidence-building measures to prevent ethnic
violence from erupting.
Not wanting to become another sectarian battleground
like Baghdad, the Kurds played a positive role to
keep Kirkuk's ethnic balance.
The Kurds held several meetings with leaders of both
the Shiite and Sunnis in a bid to thresh out
whatever irritants they may have had and prevent an
escalation of hostilities.
The Kurds have likewise been insisting on the return
of more than 200,000 Kurds who were driven out and
displaced by Saddam's regime in an effort to make
the Arabs a majority in this province.
This, however, is being met by stiff opposition by
the Al Sadrit movement, which has emerged as an
influential Shiite bloc in Kirkuk.
"This movement is resisting normalisation in Kirkuk,
while Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki wants to take
effective measures in this regard, but is careful
not to clash with the Sadrits." said Mohammad Amin,
the head of the Kurdish Democratic Party in Kirkuk.
There are allegations pointing to the existence of
Kurdish peshmerges (ethnic militant groups) in
Kirkuk, but Fadhil Mirani, the secretary-general of
the Kurdish Democratic Party denied these
accusations.
"The role of the Kurdish Peshmerge is to protect the
road between Erbil and Kirkuk and safeguard the
borders of the two cities, because terrorist groups
in Kirkuk try to infiltrate the secure Kurdish
cities" he told Gulf News.
During the past weeks, Kurdish authorities allowed
Kirkuk's Arab businessmen to enter Kurdistan and
invest there.
The move was said to be aimed at buying the loyalty
of the Arabs in the area.
Kirkuk city is not under the full control of
Kurdistan Regional Government administration. The
future of the area of Kirkuk will now be decided
directly by the local population in a referendum in
2007.
gulfnews com
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