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| Iraq |
| Iraqi Kurdish Fighters Say Capture Northern Town |
| 2003-04-06 |
| Iraqi Kurdish militia fighters said they captured the northern Iraqi town of Ain Sifni on Sunday after a battle with Iraqi forces. Babekir Zebari, commander of the Peshmerga fighters, said in the city of Dohuk that one Kurdish fighter had been killed and one wounded in the fighting for Ain Sifni, 28 miles northeast of Mosul. "We entered the town at seven o'clock (11 p.m. EDT). By nine o'clock we had the place under our control," he told Reuters in Dohuk, about 34 miles north of Mosul. The capture of Ain Sifni was another step toward securing control of the north from Iraqi forces. U.S. forces and the Peshmerga have been pushing toward the city of Mosul and the major oil center of Kirkuk, the main prize in the north. Zebari said Dohuk had come under artillery fire from Iraqi forces during the night. A suburb was hit but no one was hurt. "We aim to go only as far as we need to so that Dohuk is no longer within artillery range. Mosul is not our target," Zebari said by telephone. "If the Turks weren't making faces it would be, though..." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |