Tehran(AP)—Rebellious Kurdish
tribesmen ambushed government troops,
killing about 20 and wounding 30, as the
dissident minority renewed its sporadic
battle for autonomy in the remote, moun-
tainous region of Kurdistan, news reports
said yesterday.
Ten thousand men, women and chil-
dren from the city of Sanandaj were re
ported pushing on with a 50-mile protest
trek to Marivan, a town abandoned by its
30,000 residents in anger over the arrival
of militia units to take over security.
The Mal-ivan Kurds want to run their
own security.
Reporters said some of Marivan's
townspeople set up tent cities on the out-
skirt_s of the town, 300 miles west of Teh-
ran, and others took refuge in the moun-
tains.
The Sanandaj Kurds reportedly
launched the march to protest the alleged
seizure of Kurdish hostages by govern-
ment forces in recent fighting near Mad-
van.
A government mediation team, sent to
Marivan to negotiate with the rebels, has
returned to Tehran after talks collapsed.
A member of the team described the
Kurdish demands as “uncompromising.”
Since the Islamic revolutionary victory
in un February, rebels seeking auton-
o Thr the Kurdish region of western
an have waged an on-and-off war
against government forces.
The government sent reinforcements
and annored personnel carriers by heli-
copter to Marivan's military compound, a
reporter said, and Thursday, troops in the
compou F ed mortar barrages at sus-
pected concentrations . sur-
roundi bills. He said oáe was
killed and several were wound
The same day, the government's revo-
lutionary militiamen, backed by units of
the Army's 64th Division from Orumiyeh
in the north, conducted mopping-up opera-
tions trying to open roads to the Iraqi bor-
der.
Kurds ambushed one unit, killing about
20 men and wounding 30, and seized a
three-quarter-ton army truck, the reports
said.
Reports from the remote region said
ad moved troops to its border with
It appeared that Iranian government
forces would attempt to force the rebel-
lious Kurds to the frontier, up against the
stronger Iraqi force, possibly cutting of f
any escape route.
Kurds, a semi-nomadic people, also
live in Turkey, Syria, the Soviet Union and
Iraq, where for years they have struggled
for independence from the Baghdad gov-
ernment.
Jamshid Hagliu, governor-general of
western Iran's West Azerbaijan province,
said that between 50 and 60 railway work-
cr5 had been taken hostage by Kurdish
tribesmen.
of this, the railway link be-
tween and Turkey has been practi-
cally ed,” state radio quoted Mr.
Haghu as saying.
has closed two crossings on its
her er with Turkey in areas where fight-
ing was taking place, official sources in
Turkey said yesterday.
The border point of Esendere in Hak-
kari province and the railroad crossing at
Kapikoy in Van province were closed to
traffic late last week, the sources said.
The only crossing on the border still open
was Gurbulak in Agri province, they said.
Kurds reportedly ambush government troops in Iran
The Sue ( 1837-5 985); Jul 29, 1979; PruQuesl Hisluricot Newspupers: Buttirsure Sun, The (1837-1986)
pg. A2
Kurds reportedly ambush
government troops in I!a i
The reporter said the Kurds were keep-
ing government forces off balance with
nightly raids, enabling the rebels to main-
tain control of the roads leading west to
the Iraqi border.
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