IRAQ: REBELS OF THE PRO-BAGHDAD KURDISH DEMOCRATIC PARTY BAN WESTERN REPORTERS FROM ENTERING THE CITY OF ARBIL

Record ID: 566087

  • Title: IRAQ: REBELS OF THE PRO-BAGHDAD KURDISH DEMOCRATIC PARTY BAN WESTERN REPORTERS FROM ENTERING THE CITY OF ARBIL
  • Date: 15th September 1996
  • Summary: KANI QARZALAH, NEAR ARBIL, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 15, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV ARMED KURDISTAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (KDP) GUERRILLAS AT CHECKPOINT 0.05 2. SLV CIVILIAN TRAFFIC ENTERING TOWN 0.20 3. LV MEDIA CAMERAMEN WAITING AROUND BUS, KDP GUERRILLAS BLOCKING ROAD 0.26 4. SLV KDP GUERRILLAS ON BACK OF TRUCK 0.35 5. SLV/SV KDP GUERRILLA AT CHECKPOINT (6 SHOTS) 1.04 6. LV BUS DRIVING ALONG ROAD AWAY FROM ARBIL 1.12 7. SV INTERIOR OF BUS, JOURNALISTS MAKING NOTES, CAMERMAN FILMING (3 SHOTS) 1.34 8. TRACKING VIEW FROM BUS MOVING AWAY FROM ARBIL 1.43 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 30th September 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KANI QARZALAH, NEAR ARBIL, IRAQ
  • City:
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA6WVH97A4YE1QRPQ53AXXVHDMA
  • Story Text: INTRO: Rebels of the pro-Baghdad Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) have banned a group of Western reporters on an Iraqi government-sponsored trip from entering the Kurdish city of Arbil.

    KDP guerrillas with assault rifles and hand grenades fastened to their belts at a checkpoint close to Kani Qarzalah, seven kilometres (four miles) west of Arbil, ordered the reporters and their Iraqi guides back on Sunday (September 15).

    Kani Qarzala, once a booming agricultural village, has been deserted and then ruined during the past two years of fighting between the KDP and their rivals, militia of the Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

    The KDP ousted the PUK from Arbil in a joint assault with Iraqi armoured troops on the city on August 31.

    The buses carrying Western reporters passed three KDP checkpoints on the 90 km (56 miles) highway from Mosul to Arbil.

    Then Kurdish rebels guarding Arbil's outskirts prevented the reporters from entering the city about 350 km (218 miles) north of Baghdad.

    The rebels were decorating checkpoints once manned by PUK rebels with KDP flags and pictures of their leader Masoud Barzani.

    Information ministry guides did not say why the rebels did not want the journalists to enter Arbil.

    Local reporters representing state-run newspapers and other Iraqi journalists employed by Western news agencies, travelling on their own, said they had no problem entering the city.

    Iraqi involvement in the attack on Arbil on August 31 prompted U.S. President Bill Clinton to order U.S. forces to fire 44 cruise missiles against Iraqi air defences in the south of the country.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register