TV PAM lr n T iird xh ii'helc
were In control of most of Mahabad In
northwest Iran Saturday night after
heavy fighttsg In which they de
stroyed government tasks and cap-
tured the radio station, local residents
said,
IranIan government iorces orougnt
up helicopter guiiships that fired on
rebel positions, the residents said
The caaualty toll was not known,
Guerr ha sources said the rebels
had captured the local army barracks
but this could not be immed ate y
confirmed-
The official Pars news agency re-
ported that Kurdish insurgents armed
with rocket propelled gre iades
blasted several government tanks in
the city Three were reported ablaze
In the main avenue where the bar
racks are situated,
One resident who fled to the safety
of the local governor's residence re
ported by telephone that security
forces had bees pushed back to their
headquarters
Kurdish sources said t ie fighting
flared after government forces cut
roads nto Mahabad and blockaded
the own in an attempt to check the
rebels, who have been staging nightly
attacks on government positions
Shooting was st 11 going on
throughout Mahabad after nightfall
Manaoao was the st onghold of au
tonomy-aeekmg Kurdish rebe s until
the army backed by columns of
tanks, pushed them into the moun-
tains of western Iran last summer
Guerrilla sources said army troops
and revolutionary guard commando
were involved in Saturday's clsshes
They said the rebels had captured one
tapk and some hea y weapons, in-
eluding 50-mm machine guns
The first ndication that the
government was losine control of the
former rebel capital came last week
when the Kurd stan pr vinclal gov r
ior general, Jamshld Haggu, said that
security forces were no onger In
complete control of the town,
Residents said most government
build ngs could a ready be considered
In the hands of the rebels because
most government cmployes were
sympathetic to the rebel cause, They
saLd the guerrillas held the radio and
telev slon station although its equip
isent had already been destroyed
Minister of State Dariush Forouhar
returned to Tehran on Saturday after
a series of talks with Kurdish leaders
11w igh menib emIl eL
Results of the talks were not dis-
closed by the government, which said
it welcomed Kurdish suggestions to
end the pitiful clashes,” It did rot
say what the suggestions were,
On Friday, Kurd oh rebels am-
bushed a column of natonal police,
battlirg them for two hours near Na-
qadeh in northwest Iran, the state
radio said Saturday,
The radio also said the army Satur-
day continued its “cleaning up' cam-
paign in Kurdistan and arrested eight
members of the outlawed Kurdish
Democratic Party with “large
aMo tt ni ,rmc nnti nmmi,nihnn”
In Tehran on Saturday the Assn. of
Political Prisoners Opposed to Impor-
alism and International Reaction said
o a report that 1 500 men and women
were being held in Iranian jails as po-
litical prisoners.
In addition it charged tha 130 pro
pie “arres ed on political accusations
and for anti-imperialist and antireac-
tionary struggle' have been executed
A member of the assoc atton told
reporters, ‘The condition of the pout
ical prisoners Is not different from
what It was under the crue reg me'
of the deposed Shah Mohamired Rosa
Pahlavl ,
The report on the executions was in
reference to the Kurds, ethnic Arabs
and others executed after trial oy Is-
lamic courts on charge of treason
during the recent fighting in Kurdi
an and Khuzistan provinces
Kus dish Rebels Repos ted isa (ontsol of Malaabad
Lo np ,cl T 19 9 IF 1 Or 1 7
roQ ctH trca / p p r lo /ngc Pm s 1 91 1)97)
p_. Al
IRAN TANKS DESTROYED
Kurdish Rebels Reported
in Control of Mahabad
Pnm Timn Wfr. kntcn
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