Iranian General is Killed; leftists, Kurds suspected

          
          Iranian general is killed; leftists, Kurds suspected
          The Ssa ( 1837 -i 985); Apr 24, 1979; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Baltimore Sass, The (1837-1986)
          pg. A2
          Iranian general is killed;
          leftists, Kurds suspected
          Tehran, Trail (lteuter)—Gen. Moham-
          mad Vail Gbarani, Iran's first armed
          forces chief of staff alter the revolution,
          was shot by unknown gunmen in his home
          yesterday and died later in a hospital.
          There was immediate speculation that
          General Gharani, in his late 60's, was the
          victim of leftists who considered him pro.
          American or of Kurds who resented his
          tough line against a Kurdish uprising in
          the northwestern town of Sanandaj last
          month ,
          The general was appointed February
          12, the chaotic last day of the revolution
          against the shah, by Premier Mehdi Ba-
          zargan. His appointment had the blessing
          of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the reli-
          gious revolutionary leader.
          But he was fired March 27 after severe
          criticism of his handling of the Sanandaj
          uprising,
          The general airlifted crack eommnn
          dos of the shah's former brigade of per-
          sonal bodyguards, the Immortals, to I i
          Kurds who were seeking greater self-ru ].
          He was alleged to have ordered hellcopt' ;
          gunships to machine-gun ICurdish civilian
          areas.
          By the time of his dismissal, rumors al-
          so had spread that he tortured prisoners
          during the shah's regime.
          General Gharani was head of Army in-
          telligence when Premier Mohammad
          Mossadegh, who forced the shah into a
          three-day exile In 1953, was in power.
          When the shah returned and Mr. Mos-
          sadegh was ousted, the general survived in
          office, but was dismissed in 1957. He was
          in retirement before his appointment at
          the end of the revolution.
          Nine more persons linked with the
          shah's regime, Including a police general
          and a mullah, or Muslim clergyman, were
          executed yesterday by revolutionary
          courts in the eastem town of Mashhad and
          Bandar Abbas on tbe Persian Gulf coast.
          Repraduced with permissian of the coppdght owner. Farther repradactian prohibited withaat permissioe.