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| Iraq |
| Kirkuk under Attack |
| 2003-03-24 |
| US-led forces carried out massive airstrikes around the key northern oil capital of Kirkuk on Monday, as pro-US Kurdish forces here signalled that a new front against Saddam Hussein could soon be opened. A resident inside Kirkuk contacted by telephone said there were "many dead and injured" after a morning of intense airstrikes on Iraqi army positions guarding the perimeter of the city. US jets also hit a frontline ridge overlooking Kurdish rebel-held Chamchamal, 40km east of Kirkuk, with six massive blasts hitting dug-in troops shortly before 10:00. US or British warplanes also bombed Iraqi positions at Pir Daud to the northwest, 80km north of Kirkuk and one of the last posts under Baghdad's control outside Kurdish-held territory, Kurdish security officials said. Meanwhile, more US special forces were flown into this eastern part of the Kurdish zone run by the pro-US Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), with witnesses saying at least one planeload of troops and several helicopters were flown in during the night. "Kirkuk is now under heavy attack. We are on full alert," said senior PUK military official Rostam Hamid Rahim in Chamchamal. "Some positions on the frontlines were also hit and the road between here and Kirkuk as well." But he said his forces in this almost deserted town, situated less than 1.5km from some of the Iraqi lines hit, had no intention of attacking given that the opposing troops had yet to show any sign of giving up. "It seems that this was more of a warning for the Iraqi soldiers on the hill," he said. The warning was certainly clear: the force of the blasts blew out some windows here and, amid the huge plumes of black smoke thrown up on the ridge, Iraqi troops could be seen dashing from bunker to bunker. There was only a brief barrage of anti-aircraft fire in response to the surprise attack, the first on frontlines here since war began. Normally home to some 10 000 people, Chamchamal has been reduced to ghost town by a mass exodus of residents. The strike immediately sent the few residents still here packing their belongings and leaving the town for safer areas away from the front. Virtually the only people still here were armed men guarding their homes and PUK peshmerga militia. But behind the ridge towards Kirkuk, jets were heard roaring overhead throughout the morning. The attacks near the city appeared far more intense. A Kirkuk resident contacted by telephone said the long morning raid, the third on the city since war broke out, was "unrelenting". "Nobody is on the streets. There are many dead and injured in the hospital - mostly soldiers but some civilians. A lot of the bombs are landing around the city, but it's terrifying," said the source. The United States also appeared to be building up its troop presence in the area, with more aircraft landing discreetly at a small runway near the PUK's administrative centre of Sulaymaniya on Sunday night. Residents living near the Bakrajo airfield, which was sealed off during the night, said at least one plane full of troops and up to 11 helicopters were seen touching down under cover of darkness. On Saturday night four planes had landed there, primarily carrying "scores" of US special forces who were to be "deployed across the region", a senior PUK political official said. In Baghdad, Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said Iraqi troops had foiled an attempted British and US landing near Kirkuk late on Sunday, saying the attacking forces had fled. The US and PUK troops are also jointly fighting a hardline Islamist group, Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of Islam), who are dug into an area between the town of Halabja and the Iranian border south of Sulaymaniya. More strikes on Ansar were reported overnight, but the area around Halabja has been closed to the press after an Australian television cameraman was killed there on Saturday in an apparent reprisal suicide bombing. With sources confirming that many of the US troops had been sent to Halabja, PUK officials said they hoped to finish off the group before turning their attention to government-held Kirkuk. Don't want to leave a armed force behind them. However with the morning attack on the frontline here and the bombardment of Kirkuk, that shift in focus may come sooner than expected, even though the number of US troops able to deploy here has been seriously limited by Turkey's refusal to allow the US military to use its soil to transit to the north of Iraq. The PUK, along with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), has been running the north as an autonomous zone since they wrested control over the area in the wake of the 1991 Gulf war. Would have been nice to have the 4th ID coming down from the north. Thanks a lot, Turkey. |
| Posted by:Steve |