IRAQ/ USA: KDP FIGHTERS DEPLOY NEAR DEGALA/ KDP DELEGATION ARRIVES IN U.S. TO DISCUSS KURDISH STATE

Record ID: 376040

  • Title: IRAQ/ USA: KDP FIGHTERS DEPLOY NEAR DEGALA/ KDP DELEGATION ARRIVES IN U.S. TO DISCUSS KURDISH STATE
  • Date: 15th October 1996
  • Summary: DEGALA, IRAQ AND DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 15, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) DEGALA, IRAQ 1. LV KURDISTAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (KDP) SOLDIERS STANDING ON HILL NEAR A ROAD 0.04 2. SV KDP SOLDIERS LOADING A MACHINE GUN 0.12 3. LV GROUP OF KDP SOLDIERS 0.16 4. VIEW UP ROAD AND GUN BEING FIRED 0.27 5. SV KDP SOLDIER USING BINOCULARS 0.31 6. LV GROUP STANDING AROUND 0.39 7. LV MORE KDP SOLDIERS COMING DOWN HILL TO JOIN OTHER MEN 0.54 8. TRAVEL SHOT GROUPS OF KDP SOLDIERS AND VEHICLES BY THE SIDE OF ROAD 1.16 9. LV CONVOY DRIVING DOWN ROAD 1.42 10. SV GROUP OF KDP SOLDIERS WAVING THEIR RIFLES IN THE AIR 1.47 11. LV ARMOURED VEHICLE PARKED NEAR A WALL 1.53 DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES 12. SV KDP POLITBURO MEMBER AND DELEGATION LEADER SAMI RAHMAN WALKING WITH OTHER MEMBERS IN AIRPORT 2.08 13. SV DELEGATION MEMBERS MEETING SUPPORTERS (2 SHOTS) 2.19 14. SCU RAHMAN SAYING THAT TODAY HAS BEEN A QUIET DAY ON THE GROUND AND THAT THE PUK LEADER TALABANI IS A TOY IN THE HANDS OF THE IRANIANS (ENGLISH) 2.47 15. SV REPORTER WITH RAHMAN 2.50 16. SCU RAHMAN SAYING THAT IRAN IS INVOLVED IN THE PUK COUNTERATTACK AND HAS OFFERED HEAVY ARMS AND MILITARY SUPPORT TO THEM. (ENGLISH) 3.28 17. SV CHILDREN IN TRADITIONAL KURDISH GARB, HOLDING FLOWERS 3.33 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 30th October 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DEGALA, IRAQ/ DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA6JRJTN459WH1NEBZFU6NYRXJP
  • Story Text: INTRO: Pro-Baghdad militiamen have fought their way closer to re-taking a key town in Northern Iraq, while a delegation of the Kurdish KDP faction arrive in Washington, to discuss the fate of the Kurdish state.

    About 2,000 Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) fighters deployed near the town of Degala pushed back a rival group 10 km (six miles) in a counter-attack on Tuesday (October 15).

    Although the Kurdish militia moved closer to their target, Koy Sanjak, fighting was interrupted by the passage of a United Nations aid convoy of 47 grain trucks.

    The commander of the KDP forces in the area, Robitran Ibrahim, claimed he was now waiting for the order to resume the attack.

    There was no clear evidence of outside forces involved in the fighting, part of a long Kurdish feud shaping up as a proxy conflict between adversaries Iran and Iraq.

    Washington, closely watching the fighting, has counselled both sides to leave the battlefield and return to the negotiating table.

    A KDP delegation arrived in Washington on Tuesday for talks with State Department officials. The United States has called on the KDP and its opponents the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to return to the negotiating table as tensions mountedin Northern Iraq.

    The Kurdish delegation, led by Sami Rahman, a member of the KDP Politburo, was met by an enthusiastic group of Kurdish supporters at Washington's Dulles airport.

    The KDP, which had sided with Baghdad to force its rivals from northern Iraq says it is no longer dealing with Saddam Hussein. The KDP plans to complain to the United States about what it says is Iranian military support for its rival.

    Rahman said that he hopes to get assurances of United States military protection and material support to guard against external threats on Northern Iraq and his group.

    Tehran and the Talabani deny any military cooperation.


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