Kurds reportedly ambush government troops in Iran

          
          Tehran(AP)—Rebellious Kurdish
          tribesmen ambushed government troops,
          killing about 20 and wounding 30, as the
          dissident minority renewed its sporadic
          battle for autonomy in the remote, moun-
          tainous region of Kurdistan, news reports
          said yesterday.
          Ten thousand men, women and chil-
          dren from the city of Sanandaj were re
          ported pushing on with a 50-mile protest
          trek to Marivan, a town abandoned by its
          30,000 residents in anger over the arrival
          of militia units to take over security.
          The Mal-ivan Kurds want to run their
          own security.
          Reporters said some of Marivan's
          townspeople set up tent cities on the out-
          skirt_s of the town, 300 miles west of Teh-
          ran, and others took refuge in the moun-
          tains.
          The Sanandaj Kurds reportedly
          launched the march to protest the alleged
          seizure of Kurdish hostages by govern-
          ment forces in recent fighting near Mad-
          van.
          A government mediation team, sent to
          Marivan to negotiate with the rebels, has
          returned to Tehran after talks collapsed.
          A member of the team described the
          Kurdish demands as “uncompromising.”
          Since the Islamic revolutionary victory
          in un February, rebels seeking auton-
          o Thr the Kurdish region of western
          an have waged an on-and-off war
          against government forces.
          The government sent reinforcements
          and annored personnel carriers by heli-
          copter to Marivan's military compound, a
          reporter said, and Thursday, troops in the
          compou F ed mortar barrages at sus-
          pected concentrations . sur-
          roundi bills. He said oáe was
          killed and several were wound
          The same day, the government's revo-
          lutionary militiamen, backed by units of
          the Army's 64th Division from Orumiyeh
          in the north, conducted mopping-up opera-
          tions trying to open roads to the Iraqi bor-
          der.
          Kurds ambushed one unit, killing about
          20 men and wounding 30, and seized a
          three-quarter-ton army truck, the reports
          said.
          Reports from the remote region said
          ad moved troops to its border with
          It appeared that Iranian government
          forces would attempt to force the rebel-
          lious Kurds to the frontier, up against the
          stronger Iraqi force, possibly cutting of f
          any escape route.
          Kurds, a semi-nomadic people, also
          live in Turkey, Syria, the Soviet Union and
          Iraq, where for years they have struggled
          for independence from the Baghdad gov-
          ernment.
          Jamshid Hagliu, governor-general of
          western Iran's West Azerbaijan province,
          said that between 50 and 60 railway work-
          cr5 had been taken hostage by Kurdish
          tribesmen.
          of this, the railway link be-
          tween and Turkey has been practi-
          cally ed,” state radio quoted Mr.
          Haghu as saying.
          has closed two crossings on its
          her er with Turkey in areas where fight-
          ing was taking place, official sources in
          Turkey said yesterday.
          The border point of Esendere in Hak-
          kari province and the railroad crossing at
          Kapikoy in Van province were closed to
          traffic late last week, the sources said.
          The only crossing on the border still open
          was Gurbulak in Agri province, they said.
          Kurds reportedly ambush government troops in Iran
          The Sue ( 1837-5 985); Jul 29, 1979; PruQuesl Hisluricot Newspupers: Buttirsure Sun, The (1837-1986)
          pg. A2
          Kurds reportedly ambush
          government troops in I!a i
          The reporter said the Kurds were keep-
          ing government forces off balance with
          nightly raids, enabling the rebels to main-
          tain control of the roads leading west to
          the Iraqi border.
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