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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