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| Iraq |
| 50 die in blitz on Islamist groups |
| 2003-03-22 |
| FoxNews was reporting the KIA count at 200 earlier. Rooters, via WaPo, reports at least 100.. The United States yesterday widened its war in Iraq with a missile blitz of two Islamist groups in Iraqi Kurdistan killing at least 50 people but sending tensions in the area rising and raising questions over the validity of their targets. Mustafa Sayed Khader, a top commander with the pro-US Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), said the pre-dawn attack on Ansar Al Islam (Supporters of Islam), which Washington has linked to the Al Qaeda terror network, involved a two-hour bombardment by some 50 cruise missiles. "Ansar positions were bombarded by around 40-50 cruise missiles. The missiles hit Ansar centres. There are many dead and injured, although we don't know how many for sure," Khader said in PUK-held Halabja. But in a surprise move, missiles also hit the base of a mainstream Islamic party, Komala Islami Kurdistan (Islamic Society of Kurdistan), in the small town of Khormal, killing at least 50 people. Komala control an area between PUK and Ansar territory, and the PUK justified the attack on the group by arguing that it had refused to allow PUK fighters to use its positions to attack Ansar. Sounds reasonable to me. Wonder if this is the same bunch as Jamaat e-Islami? |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |