Clashes Put Pxessme On Khomeini Moslem Leadex Says Leftists Pow Danger to Iran Elhmi P
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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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