Renewed street fighting kills 30 in Iranian town
The Sass (5837-i 985); Apr 22, 1979; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Baltimore Sass, The (1837-1988)
pg. A2
Renewed street fighting
kills 30 -in Iranian town
Tehran, ‘ n (lteiiterl—Renewed
street lighting erupted yesterday in the
small northwest Iranian town of Nagha-
deh. with reports of up to 30 killed in 24
hours.
The reports from the town of 40,000
people near the Turkish and li-aqi borders
were scanty and it was not clear whether
Ihe fighting was between locals of Kurdish
and Turkish origin or differing Muslim or
political groups. ,. . - ,
Most Kurds art Sunni Muslims while
most Iranians of Turkish origin belong to
lhe Shia Muslim faith.
Everything in the town was closed
down and barricades blocked streets as
fighters dug in to bold their positions. The
Tebran evening newspaper Kuj ht:n quot-
ed reports of Iranian Air Force Phantom
fighters buzzing Naghadeh yesterday. but
military spokesmen said later the armed
forces had received no orders from Teh-
ran to intervene
The state radio, the “Voice of the ls-
lamic Republic,” said the clashes were
continuing today. Residents of Orumiyeh
Iformerly Rezai,vell), the capital of the
province of West Azarbaijan in which
Naghadeh is situated, spoke of bodies'
lying in the street because it was too dan-
gerous for ambulances to pick them up.
The fighting flared yesterday after a
gunman opened fire on a Ineeting of the
Kurdistan Democratic party IKDP) which
wants more self-rule for tIle Kurds within
a federal - • —- .. -. -.-
Panic shooting broke out as. various
groups took cover ‘and the battle lines
were unclear. A local doctor yesterday pot
the death toll at 24 with' 50 wounded. A lo-
cal Kurdish leader” told one reporter that
30 persons had been killed.
The Iranian revolutionary authorities
have already been facedwith outbreaks of
fighting in two other border areas—in the
Kurdish town of Sanandaj and in the Tur-
koman town of Gonbad-e-Kavus in the
northeast near the Soviet frontier.
Clashes were also reported Friday in
the southern oil town of Ahadan as groups
of youths wielding knives and clubs at-
tacked a sit-in of unemployed workers de-
mandiOg jobs on the municipal buildings.
Tehran newspapers said the youths also
attacked the local headquarters of the
Marxist-Leninist Fedayeen guerrillas and
occupied the building, injuring several
people.
In Tehran, four persons were reported
killed and two hurt Thursday when two
revolutionary committees clashed after
one was ordered to purge members of the
other, newspapers reported.
Removal of violent elements from
some of the committees, set up as branch-
es of the revolutionary leadership, was
one of the demands made by a leading re-
ligious figure. Ayatollah Mabmoud Tal-
eghani, earlier this week after he went in-
to hiding in protest against abuse of power
since the revolution. -
But Ayatollah Taleghani stressed in a
statement on the state radio yesterday
that he was.not at odds with revolutionary
hero Ayatollah Ruhol lab Khomeini. ‘Op-
posing the leadership of the Imam lleaderl
Khomeini is opposing the Islamic reli-
- ion,” Ayatollah Talegliani said.
But helarned agàinst'”ene •s and
spies” infiltrating the youth ‘of and
exacerbating the country's exist prob-
lems such as unemployment and the dis-
rupted economy.
,,A t. Army major. was executed last
night in the city of Khorramshahr, bring-
ing to t4lI the.total number of executions
since the revolution.
But for the first time—in the Western
town of Kermansliah —a revolutionary
court postponed the execution of an Army
private after protests by his fellow sol-
diers from the local Army barracks.
The Asi ociated Press quoted Saturday
newspapers as reporting that soldiers in
the western town of Kermànshah refused
- In turn over to executioners a fellow en-
listed man condemned to death for shoot.
ing Cnti-shah'demonstrators.
In the first reported incident of serious
resistance to a summary decision by
Iran's Islamic courts, the soldiers de
manded that their comrade's life be
spared saying he was merely carrying Out
his commanding officer's orders,'press re-
ports said.
An Islamic court on Thursday convict-
ed Tajali Gorganli, who served in Ker-
manshah, of killing anti-shah demonstra-
tors. The soldier asked f or ‘and received a
24-hour stay of execution: so hIs parents
could bebrought'from'hls hometown fora
last visit, the reports said. After the viSit
Friday, th&soldiers atSalehahad barracks
where Gorganli is imprisoned refused to
turn him over for ‘execution, and staged
pro lestdémonstralions
Foreigners who bad been buoyed by re-
pórthearlier this week that the govern-
moM might allow one plant to produce al-
coholic drinks for non .Musllms had their
hOpes dashed when the co ! 1mcrce. Minis-
try detñdëd against themove,
Reproduced with permission otthe coppright oweer. Fsrther reproduction prohibited without permission.
