Iranians Kurdu reported preparing for second clash
The Sun (1837-1985); Aug 27, 1979; PruQuest Historicul Newspupers: Baltimore Sue, The (1537-1956)
pg. A4
Iranians, Kurds reported
preparing for
Saqqez, fri] (AP)—The Islamic re-
gime's troops m5pped up in this shell-that-
tend town yesterday after smashing a
four-day siege by Kurdish rebels. But the
rebels vowed to fight again elsewhere and
reported both sides were preparing for a
major battle for the Kurds' main strong-
hold of Mahabad.
In Tehran, assassins killed two support-
ers of the Islamic regime's spiritual lead-
er, Ayatollah Ruhollab Khomeini, and
wounded a third.
The.lattle for Saqqez, a town in west-
ern Ir near the Iraqi border, ended tat-
urday after government troops, flown
there in giant Chinook helicopters, rein-
forced their besieged garrison. They fired
a blistering barrage with heavy weaponry
and overpowered the Kurdish tighten.
Yesterday, as government troops
searched house-to -house for insurgents,
the Kurds called their pullout a “tactical
retreat” One Kurdish source said most of
the rebel force of less than 500 bad en-
caped. The government garrison was
about 700 men.
Kurdish sources said they now expect a
government strike on Mahabad, a heavily
fortified city of more than 100,000, about
50 miles northwest of Saqqez. They said a
government armored column of at least
65 tanks, scores of armored personnel car-
riers and long-range artillery, was await-
ing orders outside the farming village of
Solda about 20 miles south of Mahabad.
The insurgents said Mahahad would not
be intimidated.
“We have anti-aircraft weapons, 105-
mm. howitzers, 106-mn recoilless rifles,
mortars and 17 tanks ready for action,”
one Kurdish leader said. Kurds leaving
Saqqez were seen carrying such weapons
in trucks.
In addition, the leader added, the Kurds
have “thousands of armed fighters, all
highly trained to tackle any situatI On....
If they use helicopters to strafe and rocket
second clash
us as they did at Saqqez, they are going to
find it rough. Now we have the weapons to
knock them out of the sky.”
Mahabad was reported quiet, with
shops and businesses operating normally.
Mahabad is where Abdol Rahman Qas-
semlu, secretary of the banned Kurdish
Demoeratic party's Central Committee,
maintains his headquarters. The Kurdish
religious leader, Sheik Enedin Hosseni,
also lives there. Like most Kurds, Sheik
Hosseni is a member of the Sunni sect of
Islam—a branch different from the Shilte
branch, to which the ayatollah and most of
Iran's Persian majority belong.
Kurdish rebels have been demanding
autonomy from the fundamentalist Is-
lamic regime that replaced Shah Moham-
mad Reza Pahlavfs government last win-
ter, and many of Iran's 4 million Kurds
hope to form an independent state with
about 8 million other Kurds in neighboring
Iraq and Turkey.
Earlier this month, as fighting escalat-
ed, Khomeini banned the Kurdish Demo-
cratic party and sent Iran's armed forces
and his revolutionary guards to crush the
rebellion.
Mr. Qassemlu said yesterday the Kurds
would wage “all-out war” and make Kur-
distan “the graveyard of the reactionary
regime.” He also vowed that the Kurds,
who hold 150 revolutionary guards hos-
tage, would execute one guard for each
the regime executes.
ay, about 100 Kurds were re-
ported to have been arrested by govern-
ment forces in Saqqez when the battle
there ended, and a religious judge was re-
ported to have been sent totrythem.
Saqqez remained In serious need of
medical personnel and supplies, with
scores of wounded In Its one overcrowded
hospital. Officials feared new explosions
at a fuel depot, which was still burning
after having been hit by government artil-
leryfirt
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