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
