Aadel Collection
Iranian Forces Reported on Outskirts of Kurd Capital
TEHRAN, ran—Government forces were reported Thursday to be w thin miles of the Kurdish rebel capital of Mahabad and an army spokesman said t could be taken nV bm ” Officials of the banned Kurdish Democratic Party, which is leadrng the rebellion denied the army had advanced from a position 20 miles outside the town and said guerrilla forces were on the alert to res t a government attack. An army spokesman at the Uru m eh barracks north of the Kurdish stronghold to'd a wire erv ce repor ter by te'ephone, “Troops are be twe n 6 and 8 kilometers (36 and 4.8 miles) from Mahabad We can take it at a y time wl*h ut any ce ous con frontat on r resistance on the part of the Kurdish rebels? The spokesman acknowledged that the Kurd had tanks and antiaircraft battenes taken from the Kurdish held Mahabad barucks, In Fehran, meanwhile, a member of a Kurdish goodwill delegation charged the Iranian government with fabricatrng stories about talks ain ed at averung more battles be tween army troops and K rdish e- bels Baba Taher , part of the five mem ber delegation that caire to the capi tal from Mahabad, claimed authorities bad rounded up scores of Kurds in Tehran He also accused an s arnie court judge of atrocites . Taheri said “no agreeinern what soever had been reached by ‘eaders of the autonomy seeking Kurds and the regime of the Ayatollah Ru t ah Khon a ri, despite a c au to th con trary on the state radio Wednesday. “Flow can there be progress when the government distorts the details of our negotiations and fabricates stories on the state rad & Tahen said in a telephone rnterv ew, In the in rview, Taheri also criti cized the Ayatollah Sadegh Kha1kha li the head of Iran s courts, who has put Kurdish insurgents on trial in the recaptured city of Saqqez, scene of a bloody dash last week “The Kurdish people as well as a large number of peapk around the world do not understand how Sheik Khalkhali can claim to be handing out Is amtc justice when he thes and con- demns innocent Kurds in a mat ter of a few hour $ Taheri said Government figures indicate 83 persons have been shot to death by firing squads in and near Kurdistan in recent days Kurd sh sources claim the total exceeds 100. Two more Kurd were executed by an Islamic court de8pite four retalia tory executions of government guards by Kurds earlier rn the week The warring Kurds have threatened to shoot two prisoners for each Kurd ex ecuted by the government Th Iranian armed forces comman der, M Gen Husse n Shak&, said on state radio Thursday that Mahabad h d w b jc u i d b tu iuiy f n the sake of peace and security n the region He said the government was prepared ultimately to move the Ma habad garison outs de the town Ii arnan 1 oi & es Reported on Ontslui ts of Kni d (apatal I s n , k 1un ( I C u r rt 1 ) I 7 r 0 csL H SLOT Cd Sp p rS S /ngc Cs SI I )S7 p BS kan an Forces Reported on Outskirts of Kurd Cap taI Reproduced wHth perrisson of the copyright ov icr Further eproduction P101 bited v ithout permssor