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
          
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