IRAQ: HUNDREDS OF KURDISH GUERRILLAS POUR INTO NORTHERN OIL CITY OF KIRKUK AFTER GOVERNMENT TROOPS SURRENDER THE CITY

Record ID: 344821

  • Title: IRAQ: HUNDREDS OF KURDISH GUERRILLAS POUR INTO NORTHERN OIL CITY OF KIRKUK AFTER GOVERNMENT TROOPS SURRENDER THE CITY
  • Date: 10th April 2003
  • Summary: (U4) KIRKUK, IRAQ (APRIL 10, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS: KURDISH PESHMERGA MILITIA ENTERING KIRKUK (5 SHOTS) 0.52 2. TILT: U.S. B-52 BOMBER FLYING OVERHEAD 0.59 3. WS: SMOKE FROM BOMBS DROPPED BY B-52 BOMBERS ONTO IRAQI POSITIONS 1.06 4. SV/GV: U.S. FORCES ON HILL OVERLOOKING KIRKUK (2 SHOTS) 1.17 5. BACK SHOT: FEMALE KURDISH FIGHTERS ON HILL OVERLOOKING KIRKUK 1.22 6. LV: ROAD AND HILLSIDE 1.27 7. MV: KURDISH PESHMERGA MILITIA ON TRUCK ENTERING KIRKUK 1.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KIRKUK, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA5G4FR8UAR4AR9CO7HA7KBF71X
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Kurdish guerrillas have poured into Iraq's
    northern oil city of Kirkuk after government troops
    surrendered the city.


    Kurdish guerrillas on Thursday (April 10, 2003) entered
    Iraq's northern oil city of Kirkuk. A senior Kurdish commander
    said Kirkuk was "under control".

    The city was pounded by U.S. B-52 bombers early in the
    morning, helping to trigger an Iraqi collapse.

    Residents coming out of the town said Iraqi soldiers there
    had either laid down their arms or withdrawn south towards
    Tikrit.

    There had been very little fighting in the town, the
    residents said.

    Earlier, a BBC correspondent in Kirkuk recounted scenes of
    jubilation in the city centre after Kurdish fighters moved in
    with U.S. special forces. He said before reaching Kirkuk he
    had seen U.S. special forces dismantling targeting equipment,
    used to help bombers locate their targets, as though they
    had no further use for it.

    He also said he had seen no signs of Iraqi resistance
    since some shelling in the morning.

    Until now, Kirkuk has been in an Iraqi
    government-controlled area just to the west and south of a
    Kurdish-ruled zone created under Western protection after the
    Gulf War of 1991.

    The PUK, whose fighters entered Kirkuk, is one of the two
    main Kurdish organisations in northern Iraq, dividing control
    of the zone with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

    There were immediate signs that neighbouring Turkey was
    uneasy about the Kurdish entry into Kirkuk. A senior foreign
    ministry official in Ankara told reporters it would be
    "unacceptable" if the Kurds were to stay there permanently.


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