IRAQ: KURDISH PESHMERGA FIGHTERS ENTER VILLAGES FORMERLY CONTROLLED BY RADICAL ISLAMIST FIGHTERS.

Record ID: 376239

  • Title: IRAQ: KURDISH PESHMERGA FIGHTERS ENTER VILLAGES FORMERLY CONTROLLED BY RADICAL ISLAMIST FIGHTERS.
  • Date: 31st March 2003
  • Summary: (U7) GULG VILLAGE, NEAR HALABJA, NORTHERN IRAQ NEAR IRANIAN BORDER (MARCH 31, 2003)(REUTERS) 1. GENERAL VIEW OF VILLAGE 0.08 2. SLV: PESHMERGA FIGHTERS IN FRONT OF THE MOSQUE 0.14 3. PAN: HOUSES DESTROYED BY UNITED STATES BOMBING/SHELLING 0.22 4. SV: KURDISH FIGHTER WALKING ALONG ROAD 0.35 5. CU: PHOTOGRAPH OF ANSAR AL-ISLAM
  • Embargoed: 15th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GULG AND FARGAT, NORTHERN IRAQ NEAR IRANIAN BORDER
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVADPIIEFC26VOYBYUW8SFZDYS9D
  • Story Text: Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have entered villages
    formerly controlled by radical Islamist fighters after they
    were shelled by United States-led forces.


    Kurdish Peshmerga fighters on Monday (March 31)
    entered the village of Gulg, one of 12 villages controlled by
    militant Ansar-al-Islam fighters before they were shelled by
    U.S.-led forces following an overnight drop on March 28.

    U.S. paratroopers landed in northern Iraq overnight on
    March 28, with Washington putting the force at 1,000-strong
    from the 173rd Airborne Brigade. More have since arrived.

    Reuters reporters in the northern city of Sulaimaniya said
    on Friday they saw six U.S. Humvee off-road vehicles full of
    soldiers carrying heavy machineguns apparently heading towards
    Halabja, where a group of radical Islamic fighters are based.

    It appears that the fighters have fled their villages, and
    caves and crossed into Iran.

    One Peshmerga soldier, Omar Qadir Mohammeda, told Reuters
    in Gulg:
    "Now that the fighting has stopped, the Ansar fighters have
    fled to the other side of the mountains, which is on the
    Iranian side (of the border).

    The Kurdish authorities said 250 radical Islamic fighters
    were killed, and several captured, while some fled to Iran.

    They also said 25 of their own fighters were killed.

    In the nearby village of Fargat, a farmer also felt the
    brunt of the bombardment and said he had lost all his
    livestock.

    Abdul Rahman Hamad said: "The situation has affected me
    badly, my buildings were destroyed, my cattle were killed and
    now in order to stay in this village I need somebody to help
    me. I left the village because of the bombardment and when I
    came back I lost everything. If the government doesn't help
    me, I will have to go and try and live somewhere else."
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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