Kurd rebels kill 52 troops in hill ambush

          
          5/27/2011
          Article - Untitled Article
          Publication: Guardian 1821-2000; Date: Oct 10, 1979; Section: None; Page: 8
          Kurd rebels
          kill 52 troops
          in hill ambush
          From Li Thurgood
          in Telirart
          The death toll in onday's
          ambush by Kurdish rebels on a
          convoy of isIauI [ L guardsmen
          yesterday rose from 22 to 52.
          The ambush was said lo be the
          worst incident of violence in
          the western pI-ovincC since last
          ,nonlWs crackdown by the
          armed forces.
          Irñ's Interior Minister. Ras-
          h abbaghian, announced
          yesterday that of the 72
          guardsmen ambushed near the
          frontier town of Sardasht-, five
          had returned safely to their
          base and si had been rescued
          with serious wounds. The re-
          inaininc nine have been listed
          as missing.
          According to reports Teach-
          ing Tehran, several hundred
          Kurds using heavy automatic
          rraj'mns attacked the convoy
          on a road close to the nioun-
          tainous border with Iraq. The
          ambush was followed by simul-
          taneous attacks on four gendar-
          merie posts in the area.
          The announcement of the re
          vised death loll was aeconi-
          panied by em otional
          commentary in the press and
          on the State Radio. The
          Deputy Prime lilinister for
          Revolutionary Affairs described
          the incident as “a massacre of
          the roses of the revolution by
          a group of Godtess ones on a
          dark night.”
          Two of Iran's most Influen-
          Ba! Moslen es have joined
          the growing chorus of dissatis-
          fied Iranians harbouring seri-
          ous £ 1L over the political
          and economic direction of their
          country's revolution.
          In one of the strongest in-
          dictments of Iranian society,
          the Mojahadin- -Iil. h 5 guerrilla
          organisation has questioned the
          harsh face of an Islamic Iran
          increasingly dependent i
          “rifles, clubs, the banning of
          political parties ‘and the break-
          ing of (writers') pens.”
          Such public concern.
          expressed an an open letter
          printe d in yesterday's news-
          papers. marked the breaking of
          a long silence hy the Mojaha-
          din, who were believed to have
          been par liculaily embarrassed
          by the aetions of the new Isla-
          mic leadership in the western
          province of Iturdestan.
          pardons or allows the Shah's
          former aides and friend.; 10
          flee ?“ asked the guerrillas.
          Not even the prophet Moham-
          mad hail enforced such harsh
          sentences as were being passed
          by Iran's Jslainie courts.
          Tfltter was signed by a
          Qom branch of the Mojahadin,
          but it was widely believed to
          reflect the views not only of an
          increasing number of Iranian
          intellectuals but also th . ut=
          disappointment felt by the
          guerrilla leaderstup. who
          played a major rote in the
          Shalt's overthrow.
          A senior member recenity
          made it very clear (to the
          Guardian) that the Mojahadin
          could not support many of the
          activities now carried out in
          the name of Avatnlb ,' Kho-
          meini, Iran 's de facto I-lead of
          State. ——
          The letter. addressed to Aya-
          I ollah Khomeini's son, who
          first criticised the limitations
          imposed on the press and poll-
          tical parties in an interview
          two weeks ago, also queried
          the need for special courts for
          the clergy, the imprisonment
          and torture of revolutionaries.
          and called for guarantees that
          the controversial Velayat-c-Fag-
          bib. which aeeording to the
          draft constitution gives unpre-
          cedented political power to the
          country's spiritual leader,
          would not be used for ‘ despo-
          tic ends.”
          The Moslem People's Repub-
          lican Party, which has the stip-
          port of Iran's second most
          influential wdtious leader, the
          gentle hut conservative Ayatol-
          lab Shariatinadari. raised
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          5/27/2011 Article - Untitled Article
          “What kind of Islam is this serious doubts over t he re-
          that sends heroin addkls to gime'c hnn Iiflg of the Icurdish
          the firing squads but. either problem and warned that
          “chaos and insecurity” were
          © Guardian News and Media spreading beyond Itürdestari.
          In its weekly paper, Khaki-c-
          Mussalman, the party said
          “A problem that could have
          been solved In Kurdestan is
          now assuming greater dimen-
          sions and threatening In turn
          into a deep-rooted civil var.”
          Reuter adds from Beirut
          Iran's Deputy Prime Minister,
          Sacheg Tabataba'i, said yester-
          clay that the Shah had paid
          $200 millions to finance the
          Kurdish rebellion. I- Ic told a
          press ccnference thai the
          moor was paid three weeks
          ago through the Shah's son-inS
          law, Aradashir Zahedi, the for-
          mer Iranian Ambassador to the
          United Slates.
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