Clashes Put Pressure On Khomeini: Moslem Leader Says Leftists Pose Danger to Iran

          
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          Clashes Put
          Pressure On
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          Khomeini
          Moslem Leader
          Says Leftists Pose
          Danger to Iran
          By William Branigin
          Wuohtngtors Post ForeIgn Scrs Ice
          TEHRAN, April 21 Serious
          clashes in northwestern Iran be-
          tween rival ethnic religious and
          political groups put new strains
          today on Iraifs harried provisional
          government as Ayatollah Rühollah
          Khomeini warned of a national
          “danger” from leftist “devils
          The fighting in the Azerbai an pies
          bee town of Naqadeb, inhabited by
          Ki rdi h, Torkish and Persian -speak
          log Iraniens has claimed as many as 30
          Ines , accoiding to reports from the
          scene.
          in a separate ircident ir the south
          western oil refm ng center of Abadan
          Moslem militants loyal to Khomeini
          attacked the headquaiteis of a Maix
          1st guerrilla ai gamzation, i epartedl
          iniuring several membeis and seizing
          about 30,
          The trouble in Naqadeh and Aba
          dan started Friday after an apparent
          compromise between Khomeini and
          a more liberal religious leader, Ayatol-
          lah Mahmoud Taleghani. Their agree-
          merit defused agitation against Klio
          mcmi 's revolutionary committees by
          Iranian libe' a 0 s and both Marxists and
          radical Islamic guerrilla groups.
          According to residents, t olce
          in Naqadeh erupted when °ni ting
          of a militant branch of the Kffrdish
          Democratic Party came under fire,
          In any case, the incident escalated
          Into a full scale battle after th well-
          armed Kurdc shot hock Rep ' fp , i
          Naciadeb said Turkish-speaicipgj r-
          baijams and Persian-speaking ai
          ans from the Khomeini eomnutt es
          joined the fight against the Kurds.
          Witnesses reported seeing bodies ly-
          ing in the streets of the' town today as
          the fighting continued At least one
          cease fire was declared and quickly
          bi eke down, and local religious and
          political leaders were working on a
          new one.
          The official Pars news agency said
          tonight that 15 people had been killed
          and 50 injured in the Naqadeh clashes
          by 11 this morning.
          In addition to its ethnic aspect, the
          battle has political overtones because
          the Kurdish Democratic Party faction
          that came under attack is a leftist so-
          cialist oriented group reviled by the
          consCr/ etive Moslems loyal to KIm-
          mcmi. The fight has religious ele-
          ments because ti e Kurds are mostly
          Sunni ‘ , oslems sshile the Azerbaijan
          is at d Peisians aie piedominately of
          the Shute majotity.
          The conflict may also have the in-
          gredients of a fratricidal boidei feud
          There were unconfirmed i epoi ts that
          a more conservative wing of the party
          See IRAN, AlS, CoL 1
          S orod ed or F perrrss 100 he opyight 0 1 P 0 pro / pr ed or! U oenrlr
        

          
          Ethnic, Political Clashes Put
          New Strain on Iranian Rulers
          IRAN, From Al
          originally based in neighboring Iraq
          join the fight against their leftist ri-
          vals.
          The Iranian party tonight blamed
          :the fighting in Naqadeh on “feudal-
          ..ists,” a term the group has used to de-
          scribe the clannish Iraqi branch of the
          party.
          A statement by the Iranian party
          a1so accused its attackers of being “in
          league with the shah's supporters.”
          In Abadan, the headquarters of the
          Marxist Cherikhaye Fedaye, Khalq
          guerrilla organization came under at-
          tack by a n ob of club-wielding Mos-
          lem militants following a clemonstra-
          tion in the city to protest unemploy-
          ment.
          The attackers acéused the guerrillas
          of trying to take advantage of the Un-
          employment problem to promote their
          goal of a communist society in Iran.
          Fedaye members and sympathizers
          in Tehran complained that when miii -
          • tiamen from Abadan's revolutionary
          committees came to restore order,
          they began arresting the leftist guer-
          . rillas.
          Fedaye supporters in Abadan were
          reportedly staging a sit-in outside the
          • offices of Khomeini's committee to de-
          • niand the release of their comrades,
          • and guerrilla leaders in Tehran were
          busy meeting on what to do about the
          situation.
          • It was the arrest in Tehran of Aya-
          tollah Taleghani's two sons and a
          daughter-in-law — members or sympa-
          • thizers of leftist guerrilla groups —
          which sparked demonstrations earlier
          this week against the growing power
          Khomeini's committees.
          Taleghani went into hiding in pro-
          test before meeting Ayatollah Kho-
          meini in the boiy city of Qom Thurs-
          day to sort out the problem. In an ap-
          parent compromise, Khomeini an-
          nounced that the committees would be
          “purged” and new rules would abolish
          their powers of arbitrary arrests and-
          searches, while Taleghani went on na-
          tional television and reaffirmed Kho-
          meini's primacy as the “leader of the
          Iranian revolution.”
          Today, however, Khomeini and Ta-
          leghani appeared to differ anew in
          separate speeches in Qom.
          Calling Iranian leftists “children of
          Satan” and “agents of America,” Kho-
          ineini told an audience of tribal lead-
          ers, military commanders and police
          chiefs that his Islamic republic faced
          “plot&' to ruin the country's economy,
          army and agriculture.
          “You should not let groups of athe-
          - ists infiltrate your ranks,” Khomeini
          said. “Don't let these people weaken
          the committees and the Islamic
          Army.
          “I am warning the eiitire nation
          that there is a danger. These devils
          are creating disturbances every day.
          You must throttle these disti rb-
          ances.”
          Taleghani, meanwhile, preached in
          a' Qom speech that Communists
          should be allowed to compete politi-
          cally.
          “The old regime was afraid of them,
          but we shouldn't fear them,” he said.
          “Communists represent nothing here,
          but they will emerge from nothing if
          - By Dave Cook—'Thc Washington Poet
          we oppress them. And we will have
          given proof of weakness and lack of
          confidence in Islam.”
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