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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