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| Iraq | |
| Free From Ansar Militants, Villagers Praise Allah | |
| 2003-04-02 | |
| Edited for length: In the village of Biyara nestled in the mountains near the Iranian border in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, men were busy this weekend shaving their beards and smoking â reveling in their new freedom. A woman stood in the center of town and tore off her enveloping black abaya. She tossed her hair in the sun for a moment, smiling broadly, before donning a simple headscarf. At least 700 Ansar militants had established Taliban-like restrictions on about 30 villages here, forcing the local residents to practice a narrow interpretation of Islam that was alien to the moderate Muslim traditions practiced among most Kurds. "They are al Qaeda," said Commander Ghafur Darwish, sunning himself on a roof after his peshmerga soldiers retook control of Biyara. "Ansar was using Islam as a cover. They are terrorists." Ansar's leaders praised Osama bin Laden and sheltered his so-called mujahideen, or holy warriors, that were run out of Afghanistan last year, so it seemed only a matter of time before America took notice. Finally, the fight began late last week, and within days most of the Ansar fighters had fled to Iran or were killed. Some snuck across the border with the help of smugglers, but Iranian authorities, once thought to be Ansar's main benefactors, are now detaining more than 100, including four leaders, Kurdish officials say. That's good if true. Wahab lost his house and two shops in the recent airstrikes, but says it was worth it to be rid of Ansar. "We thank God they are gone," he said. "Even having nothing is better than living with Ansar. Now we are free." For several years Ansar had fought to overthrow the secular Kurdish government via unsuccessful assassination attempts on its leaders and sometimes deadly artillery and mortar attacks on peshmerga soldiers. Their tactics were brutal â Kurdish soldiers who surrendered or were captured were summarily executed, their bodies mutilated and displayed on the Ansar Web site and videotapes, and left on the side of the road in warning. An Ansar member killed an Australian journalist two weeks ago in a suicide bombing attack, but most of their victims have been other Muslims. Islamic scholars generally agree that both suicide attacks and war against other Muslims is forbidden under Islam. In fact, most of Ansar's precepts are unrecognizable to the average Muslim. Pilgrims from as far away as Turkey and Jordan had visited the graves of the Muslim leader Neqishbandi buried in Biyara 300 years ago. But the Ansar fighters considered such devotion to be apostasy, and paved over the graves with concrete under their new mosque. Even after American and Kurdish agents swept the grounds, evidence remained in their Biyara headquarters that Ansar spent as much time killing as they did praying. Among the ruins of the mosque, scattered among torn pages of the Koran and broken turquoise tiles, were more sinister items â two rocket-propelled grenade launchers, green plastic canisters of gunpowder, detonators, and paraphernalia for underground operations: forged identity cards and spare license plates. All across the territory once held by Ansar al-Islam, Kurds were busy reclaiming their religion. At Sergat, the site identified by Colin Powell as a chemical weapons and terrorist training facility, Kurdish soldiers spray-painted the initials for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan on the dome of a mosque. In the Biyara prison, others were gathering up green leather-bound Korans for their own use. Tariq Said Sadiq, 25, a peshmerga soldier, walked through the ruins of Ansar's mosque headquarters in disgust. "I graduated from an institute of Islamic law. These people were not Islamic, they were against Islamic principles. Islam is for peace, for health, for faith, not for killing." Wish more people felt like you do, Tariq.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 Don't know if this is a new action or a repeat of previous reports. Suleimanyah, Iraq, Apr 2 (DPA) Kurdish forces today killed 24 Islamists belonging to the Ansar al-Islam group in northern Iraq, the KURD SAT television reported. Militias of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of Iraq's two main Kurdish groups, took three Islamists as prisoners of war, the report said. Amongst the PUK forces, one person was killed and four wounded during the clashes in the Hurman area, the report said. It's good news anyway. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-04-02 15:46:01 |
| #1 Here's a little piece from Newsday: A U.S. Special Forces commander said several dozen Ansar fighters have taken refuge in the mountain slopes near the Iranian border, with a striking view of the Halabjah Valley below. "We still got a couple of them holed up in caves,â said the commander, who asked not to be named. "We got guards outside. They'll either come out, get blown up or starve to death.â |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-04-02 09:33:34 |