Iran says battle is on for Kurd rebel stronghold of Mahabad

          
          5/27/2011
          Article - Untitled Article
          Publication: Guardian 1821-2000; Date: Sep 3, 1979; Section: None; Page: 6
          Iran says battle
          is on for Kurd
          rebel stroiiiIiöld
          of Mahabad
          From Reuter
          in Tehran
          Iran announced last night It
          hatiaunehed the battle for
          Nahabad, the Kurdish rebel
          stronghold. KurrL 3 l Tuices dc c
          fending the uJt, - aid Govern.
          meat forces bad been crushed 4
          The State radio said heavy
          fighting was going on outside
          the éfty after Government
          forces launched art air and
          ground attack on Kurdish pod-
          tions. It quoted a s &kesman
          for the joint military staff as
          saying its forces, using aircraft
          and artillery, had pounded rebel
          emplacements and was now
          heading for Mahabad.
          A spokesman for the banned
          Kurdish Democratic Party,
          which is leading the Xurdish
          rebellion, said the Gov ,a 144 ..c. 4 t
          side was using helicopter gun-
          ships to cover its advance. - -
          Other Kurdish sources said
          the attack w launched by a
          Government column ot 26 tanks,
          but that the advance had been
          halted 25 miles from the Kur-
          dish stronghold by guent tta
          S
          The joint military staff spokes-
          man was quoted by the radio as
          saying Government forces had
          entered the rebel-held border
          town of Piranshahrn, inflicting
          heavy casualties on Kurdish
          forces in mopping-up opc&atiuua
          as far as the Iraqi frontier.
          Iran last night accused the
          for—major international news
          agencies of being Zionist-con.
          trolled, and of spreading false
          reports about the situation in
          Kurdistan.
          GuvvLitIuent spokesman Sadeq
          Tabatabai, without naming the
          agencies, said: “The four big-
          pat news agencies, whose
          leaders are Zionist . reflect
          totally false reports about
          Kurdistan The Islamic Republi-
          at& A 1111 y does not kill ihe
          people. Counter-revolutionaries
          kill the people.”
          of a medical learn at Ssqqez,
          which the army captured seven
          days ago.
          The raids were seen as an
          attempt by the Kurda to stem
          the concentrati d yrt Govern-
          ment armour troops and Is Is-
          ini guardsmen round
          Mahabad .
          The Interior Minister, Mr
          Hashem Sabbaghian. on Satur-
          day night rejected any further
          talks with Kurdfsh ne-gotialors,
          Mr Sabbathiass described the
          KDP leaders as trouble-makers
          and traitors. He also said Iran
          had warned Iraq against givi
          the rebels aid and cover,
          because “destructive activities
          in Iran wore riot in the inter-
          eat-vt-our Moslem neighbourst
          Although the Iraqi Embassy
          here later issued a statement
          denying that any such notice
          had been served. Mr Sabbag-
          hian's warning coincided with
          reports that Ira n's Foreign
          Minister had met—the Iraqi
          strongman Saddeni Rossein at
          ihe non-aligned conference in
          Havana to discuss the Kurdish
          crisis.
          In a note handed to the
          Iranian Government over the
          the Turkish Govern-
          ment denied any Involvement
          in the recent Kurdish troubles.
          The note, hand J b the Prime
          Minister by the Turkish envoy
          here, stressed Ankara's desire
          for friendly relations and
          stated that reinforcements had
          been sent to the Irano-Turkish
          border to prevent ay
          sible attacks.”
          Meanwhile, Ayatollah Kho-
          meini has said he was ready to
          go to Kurdestan to quell the
          uprismb f ,icccssary . j
          cannot be a passive spectator
          to the break-up of our country
          and the martyrdom of our
          youths” Ayatollah Sadoughi
          from the central desert town
          of Yazd. quoted Khomeini as
          saying at a meeting in Qom
          last Thursday.
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          5/27/2011 Article - Untitled Article
          L iz Diulgood adds , Over In a televised address late
          the past two days, the Kurds Friday night, a detnoralised
          have launched a series of Prime Minister urged Iranians
          attacks, leaving at least 40 dead. to ask Ayatollah Khomeini to
          In the worst of several raids,- return to Teliran. and talie
          15 Government volunteers were control of the Government. Mr
          killed yesterday, when the Bazargan confirmed ‘that lie
          Kinds nnbushed an army had recently tried to hand in
          transport vehicle not far from his resignation, hut the nffer,
          Mahabad. Another six gend- he said. had been rejected by
          armes were killed at an outpost the Ayatollah.
          farther west and two members
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