IRAQ: RIVAL KURDISH FACTIONS INVOLVED IN FIERCE FIGHTING FOR CONTROL OF KEY DUKAN DAM

Record ID: 376079

  • Title: IRAQ: RIVAL KURDISH FACTIONS INVOLVED IN FIERCE FIGHTING FOR CONTROL OF KEY DUKAN DAM
  • Date: 21st October 1996
  • Summary: NEAR DUKAN DAM/ RANYA/ NEAR RANYA/ ARBIL/ NEAR ARBIL, IRAQ (OCTOBER 21, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) NEAR DUKAN DAM 1. GV: KURDISH DEMOCRATIC PARTY (KDP) FIGHTERS PULLING OUT OF AREA ON TRUCKS AND BY FOOT, AUDIO OF GUNFIRE IN DISTANCE (3 SHOTS) 0.24 2. MV/CU: KDP FIGHTER WITH HEADWOUND SEATED BY ROAD (2 SHOTS) 0.32 3. LV: MAKESHIFT KDP ROADBLOCK - LOCAL REPORTS SAID THESE KDP SOLDIERS WERE TRYING TO STOP THEIR COMRADES FROM RETREATING 0.39 4. MV/GV: RETREATING KDP ARMOURED VEHICLE HALTED AT ROADBLOCK. ITS CREW ARGUES WITH KDP FIGHTERS MANNING ROADBLOCK. ARMOURED VEHICLE IS ALLOWED TO CONTINUE ITS RETREAT AND MOVES THROUGH ROADBLOCK (2 SHOTS) 0.52 NEAR RANYA 5. GV: KDP FIGHTERS EXAMINING DESTROYED VEHICLE, FIGHTER HOLDING PIECE OF ORDNANCE (2 SHOTS) 1.03 RANYA 6. GV/MV: BODIES IN BACK OF VEHICLE, KDP FIGHTER IN VEHICLE WITH BODIES COVERED IN BLANKETS (2 SHOTS) 1.10 7. GV/PAN: VEHICLE CARRYING BODIES MOVES AWAY 1.14 NEAR ARBIL 8. LV: WOMEN AND CHILDREN WITH WATER CONTAINERS (2 SHOTS) 1.23 9. MV: WOMEN AND CHILDREN COLLECTING WATER 1.29 10. TV: DISPUTES BREAKING OUT IN QUEUE (2 SHOTS) 1.45 11. MV/GV: WOMEN AND CHILDREN CARRYING WATER AFTER SUNSET (2 SHOTS) 1.55 ARBIL 12. MV: RESTAURANT KITCHEN LIT BY GASLIGHT (2 SHOTS) 2.05 13. MV: YOUNG MEN PLAYING GAMBLING GAME AROUND TABLE BY GASLIGHT (2 SHOTS) 2.14 14. SV: MAN HAVING HAIRCUT BY GASLIGHT IN BARBER'S SHOP 2.22 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 5th November 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEAR DUKAN DAM/ RANYA/ NEAR RANYA/ ARBIL/ NEAR ARBIL, IRAQ
  • City:
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAD9GXGKDXRZI6V266HY70ALEZY
  • Story Text: INTRO: Iraqi Kurdish forces have fled an advance by their Kurdish rivals after fierce fighting for control of a key dam. The retreat, by KDP forces, comes as a U.S. mediator continued efforts to bring the two sides together for peace talks.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------- Kurdish militia leader Jalal Talabani arrived in Turkey for talks with a United States (U.S.) mediator on Tuesday (October 22) on ending infighting in northern Iraq that has hurt Washington's anti-Baghdad efforts.

    Diplomatic sources said U.S. peace envoy Robert Pelletreau would try to convince Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), to accept a ceasefire proposal that was also put to rival Iraqi Kurd chieftain Massoud Barzani, who leads the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party).

    Washington, which has kept Iraqi President Saddam Hussein out of north Iraq for most of the last five years, fears Baghdad or Tehran might fill a power vacuum caused by the Kurdish feud.

    Pelletreau laid out the ceasefire plan at a meeting with Barzani in the Turkish border town of Silopi on Monday.

    But the U.S. bid has yet to produce a let up in fighting.

    Neither side has gained a clear advantage in the latest clashes which broke out 10 days ago.

    Talabani's PUK on Monday halted a push by Barzani's fighters on Talabani's stronghold Sulaimaniya, near the Iranian border.

    Witnesses said forces loyal to Talabani retook the town of Ranya and repelled a KDP assault on the strategic Dukan Dam.

    Days of fierce fighting around the Dukan Dam have paralysed water and electricity supplies to the KDP-held city of Arbil. Women from Arbil were collecting water by hand on Monday evening. Shops and restaurants in the city were lit by gas lamps.


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