QUSHTAPA, Iraq March 29 —
U.S. forces and Kurdish fighters are striking at Islamic militant
camps and advancing along a new northern front against Saddam
Hussein's army after it pulled back Saturday along the main road to
the oil center of Kirkuk.
Iraqi soldiers fell back at least 12 miles from the Qushtapa
checkpoint to apparently regroup near Perdeh also known as Altun
Kupri about 30 miles from Kirkuk.
The town has an important bridge over the Little Zab River.
Bypassing the bridge would require coalition forces to make
difficult and potentially dangerous detours through rolling hills
where Iraqis could stage guerrilla-style ambushes.
Kurdish commanders believe the retreat is part of attempts to
solidify Iraqi defenses around Kirkuk. Earlier this week, Iraqi
troops made a similar pullback east of Kirkuk.
"We think they are trying to make a ring around Kirkuk," said
Farhad Yunus Ahmad, a leader of a front line unit of the Kurdish
militiamen known as peshmergas literally "those who face death."
But there are no orders yet to open a northern offensive. The
Pentagon has some 1,200 paratroops and some special forces at its
disposal in the Western-protected Kurdish autonomous region. Kurdish
leaders, meanwhile, have pledged not to stage any independent
attacks for the time being.
Kurdish scouts advanced slowly along an emptied stretch of the
Irbil-Kirkuk road, which appeared to be mined in places. Iraqi
soldiers left behind cinder block bunkers, coils of barbed wire and
sandbags. Kurds planted the yellow flag of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party one of the two main Kurdish factions atop a small hill
overlooking an abandoned village surround by green pastures dotted
with spring wildflowers.
Tracks in the mud suggested the Iraqis had some tanks in the area
recently.
In a foxhole, an Iraqi soldier left an empty pack of Al-Rashid
cigarettes with some pencil doodles on the inside cover.
In the eastern part of the Kurdish zone, militia backed by U.S.
forces took control Friday of territories held by the
al-Qaida-linked, radical Islamic group Ansar al-Islam, a group
accused by the United States of maintaining ties to Saddam.
In fighting with Ansar al-Islam, at least two members of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, were killed, and 22 others
injured, said Kosrat Rasool Ali, an official with the PUK, the other
main Kurdish faction. About 40 Ansar fighters were killed and at
least one was captured, The Washington Post reported, citing medical
officials.
U.S. forces have been bombing Iraqi and Ansar-al Islam targets in
northern Iraq and Mosul and Kirkuk for several days. More aircraft
could be heard flying over Halabja along the Iranian border late
Friday.
Also Friday, the two main Kurdish groups joined with the
opposition Iraqi National Congress in urging people all over Iraq to
engage in "the liberation of the cities and villages from
dictatorship."
More than 1,200 U.S. paratroopers swooped into northern Iraq this
week, linking up with Kurdish fighters and U.S. special operations
troops to seize the strategic Bakrajo air base, about 80 miles north
of the key oil fields of Kirkuk and Mosul. U.S. commanders say heavy
armor and other material could soon start arriving.
Among the areas abandoned by Saddam's forces was the garrison
town of Qala Hanjir, about 12 miles south of the Kurdish zone. Iraq
had used the town to defend Kirkuk. Kurdish militia rooting through
the Baath Party headquarters there Friday found gas masks and vials
of atropine, a nerve gas antidote.
Kurdish officials said Iraqi forces in Kirkuk also shelled the
nearby Kurdish-held city of Chamchamal. At least one person was
injured, residents said.
photo credit
and caption:
Iraqi Kurdish militia fighters
are seen in the Qushtapa area, 50 kms (30 miles) south of the
Kurdish-controlled town of Irbil, during a move towards the
oil center of Kirkuk, northern Iraq, Saturday March, 29, 2003.
Striking at Islamic militant camps, U.S. forces and Kurdish
fighters were shaping their new northern front against Saddam
Hussein's army Saturday, which apparently pulled back along
the main road to Kirkuk. (AP PHOTO/Hasan
Sarbakhshian)
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