Iranian forces launch assault against Kurds

Press, 1 September 1980, Page 6

Iranian forces launch assault against Kurds

NZPA-Reuter Teheran Heavy fighting raged in the Kurdish city of Mahabad yesterday after Iran sent in troops and heavy artillery to end a 10-month occupation by autonomist rebels, a provincial official said. The deputy governor-gen-eral of West Azerbaijan province said that the fighting began on Saturday night. “The objective of the operation is to purge the city of counter-revolution-: aries as soon as possible,” he said.

The outbreak of fighting appeared to mean that the Government push on Mahabad, promised by the Armed Forces for the last week, had started. However, the Iranian News Agency Pars has since denied reports that Iranian troops and Kurdish rebels were en-

gaged in heavy fighting in Mahabad, Western Azerbaijan. The official agency said that clashes had broken out ion Saturday between “illegal counter-revolutionary groups” but that the Armyhad not intervened. Pars admitted that “minor” incidents involving government troops and “rebels” had erupted around Mahabad. but added that the town was calm. Mahabad, in the southern part of West Azerbaijan, has been the centre of a tract of territory' effectively controlled by the Kurds since late last year. The Iranian Army and revolutionary guards launched a drive in midApril to recapture ' the Kurdish centres, and took the strategic towns of Sanandaj and Saqqez after a. month of

r bloody fighting which; -Icaused severe damage. i i But tire deputy governor; I; said the Government wanted [ito avoid more violence and| .■retake Mahabad with thel >! fewest casualties. “The decision is to bring iback Mahabad to the mother . country. We don’t want it to 'be the stronghold of ?! counter-revolutionaries. But ‘■we have done and will do' . j our best to avoid a mass-' ’lacre,” he said. I It was also reported that; i;seven Revolutionary Guards! >;had been killed in clashes; fiwith “counter-revolution-; •; aries” in Kamyaran region, a ’. strategic zone separating the ; troubled Kurdistan and Kerilmanshah provinces. s Quoting the local. Armed -j Forces headquarters in Ker•'manshah, the Pars News 3l Agency said the “counteri I revolutionaries” had also f.suffered casualties.

> Meanwhile, the Iranian' i President (Mr Abolhassan Bani-Sadr) has repeated his opposition to the continued I holding of 52 American hos-. Stages and the use of brutal-; I ity to ensure internal security. the English-language! "Teheran Times” reported yesterday.

“The continued detention of the United States Embassy personnel, who were taken last November when Iranian students stormed the embassy, has made Iran the hostage of the United States," he was quoted as .saying.

“Iran’s continued wish to cling to an illusion will prevent the country from gaining its true independence from the United States, which can only be achieved if Iran takes advantage of present international possibilities.”'