IRAQ: KURDISH SOLDIERS WATCH U.S PLANES ATTACK IRAQI POSITIONS NEAR CHAMCHAMAL IN NORTHERN IRAQ

Record ID: 355447

  • Title: IRAQ: KURDISH SOLDIERS WATCH U.S PLANES ATTACK IRAQI POSITIONS NEAR CHAMCHAMAL IN NORTHERN IRAQ
  • Date: 26th March 2003
  • Summary: (U4) CHAMCHAMAL, NORTHERN IRAQ (MARCH 26, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS, SMOKE RISING FROM FIGHTING BETWEEN IRAQIS AND U.S.-BRITISH FORCES, AN IRAQI POSITION IS LOCATED ON TOP OF THE HILL (2 SHOTS) 0.25 2. SLV PESHMERGA SOLDIERS POINTING TOWARDS THE BLAST 0.30 3. LV/ PAN OF MORE SMOKE FROM ANOTHER BLAST 0.46 4. WIDE OF PESHMERGA SOLDIE
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CHAMCHAMAL, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA2JHPH6TTHL7B1430CRBCQUIN3
  • Story Text: U.S. warplanes have pounded frontline Iraqi positions
    near the town of Chamchamal in the Kurdish-controlled north of
    the country.



    U.S. warplanes pounded forward Iraqi positions in the
    north of the country on Wednesday (March 26) as U.S. efforts
    to open a second, limited front against President Saddam
    Hussein's forces gathered pace.

    Five large explosions threw up plumes of black smoke on
    the hilltops overlooking Chamchamal, a town in the
    Kurdish-controlled Iraqi enclave wrested from Baghdad after
    the 1991 Gulf War.

    Local Kurds, enemies of Saddam's government, cheered as a
    loud blast followed a few seconds after each explosion.

    Kurdish "peshmerga" fighters looked on from a high point in
    the town.

    But a senior Kurdish commander controlling the area around
    Chamchamal, which lies 35 km (22 miles) east of the key oil
    city of Kirkuk which Saddam controls, said the Americans
    needed to do more to rout the Iraqi forces effectively.

    "From 0530 until now there have been seven bombing
    session. They used two rockets each time, but the attack is
    not very strong," Mam Rostam told Reuters in Chamchamal
    minutes after the bombing ended. "I don't know the exact plan,
    but if they want to hit the right positions, they should bomb
    all the hilltops along this mountain range."
    The increased presence of U.S. forces in the Kurdish zone,
    and escalating bombardment of frontlines and the nearby cities
    of Kirkuk and Mosul, appear to be part of attempts by the
    United States to open a second front against Saddam.

    But, after Turkey's parliament blocked permission for over
    60,000 U.S. troops to enter northern Iraq, it is unclear how
    much of a threat they can pose Saddam's forces in the north.

    Rostam said he knew of no plans for "peshmergas" to cross
    the frontline and launch an offensive from his area.

    Rostam said Iraqi soldiers dug in on hilltops just three
    to four km (2-3 miles) away appeared to have run away.

    He added there had been a total of seven attacks since
    Tuesday night, hitting hilltops bunkers and positions 15 km (9
    miles) west at Qarahanjir.

    Warplanes also flew over the nearby city of Sulaimaniya
    early on Wednesday, apparently on their way to hit areas near
    the Iranian border held by the radical Ansar al-Islam group
    which Washington accuses of having links with al Qaeda.


    GULF WAR 3

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