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March 12, 2003
Al Qaeda Kurds: Not For Long?
This article addresses an issue that was raised by Monsier M about a group of Kurds who had links to Al Qaeda. Here is a good quote:
- The Halabja Valley, ... close to the mountainous border with Iran ... just inside Iraq had been taken over by radical Islamic Kurds, the Ansar al-Islam, who fielded an estimated 900 fighters and regarded the two secular Kurdish organizations who run the rest of northern Iraq as their enemies."
- Now, as a U.S. invasion force gathers to fight a war against Iraq, Kurdish officials say the Ansar enclave will be destroyed as part of the larger conflict.
"The situation is ideal for destroying them and capturing them," said Sheik Jafar, commander of the U.S.-allied Kurdish militia arrayed opposite the enclave.
In anticipation, civilians have begun moving out of the Halabja Valley, saying they fear the bombs and missiles they expect U.S. warplanes to aim at the enclave. The Arabs are staying behind and building bunkers, they say.
Posted by crandal at March 12, 2003 09:54 PM