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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| ’Five dead’ in new Syria clashes |
| 2004-03-17 |
| At least five people have been killed in fresh clashes between Kurds and police in northern Syria, reports say. A Kurdish politician told the Associated Press that two Kurds and three police officers were killed on Tuesday in a riot in Aleppo. Several deaths have been reported in clashes between Arabs and the Kurdish minority over the past few days, but Syria denies any political unrest. "Riots? What riots?" Syria has about two million Kurds among its population of 17 million. There was no immediate confirmation of the deaths from the Syrian Government, which has not issued any figures for casualties since clashes between Kurds and Arabs began on Friday. Witnesses told AP that a second riot in Afrin, 65 kilometres (40 miles) north of Aleppo, led to the death of two other people. Another Kurdish source, Mashaal Timo of the Kurdish People’s Union, told the French news agency AFP that that nine Kurds had been killed in overnight clashes with Arab residents in Aleppo. The first violence came after a brawl at a soccer match last Friday in Qameshli near the border with Turkey and Iraq. At least nine people were killed and a railway station, schools and public offices were badly damaged. The clashes have triggered a wave of protests among Syrian Kurds living in exile. They claim the authorities have encouraged violence against the Kurdish minority in the disturbances. On Tuesday, Turkey’s Anatolia news agency said security forces opened fire on Kurds marking the anniversary of the 1988 gas attack on Iraqi Kurds in the town of Halabja. It said three people were shot dead in Aleppo and four in Afrin. With the success of the Kurds in Iraq throwing off Saddam, Syria is going to have a hard time keeping the lid on their Kurdish population. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #6 LOL Shipman, thanks for the tip. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-3-17 6:09:58 PM |
| #5 Personally, I blame Schroedinger I figure it's 50/50. Beware the PETA Thought Crime Brigade. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-3-17 3:21:23 PM |
| #4 haaretz confirms Al-Bawaba (hows THAT for arab Israeli cooperation?) 15 killed in Allepo, others in Ifrin. Also reports a french human rights group says 2000 Kurds arrested in Damascus, many released, some after beatings. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-3-17 2:15:47 PM |
| #3 More from al-Bawaba: At least 17 Kurds were killed in northern Syria in clashes with Arabs, as unrest among the Kurdish population spread to more towns and villages, an official of a Kurdish party told reporters on Wednesday. Mashaal Timo, a member of the political bureau of the Kurdish People's Union, said nine people were killed in the Asharafiye and Sheikh Maksud districts of Aleppo, the main northwestern city. Another six were killed in the village of Ifrin, 40km northwest of Aleppo and two others in Ras al-Ain, on the Turkish border to the northeast, he told the AFP. The clashes started on Tuesday and continued overnight, and followed police suppression of rioting in the city of Qamishli, in which at least 19 Kurds were reported killed at the weekend following disturbances during a football match. Timo conveyed Arabs had also been killed at Qamishli and Arab tribesmen seeking revenge had attacked Kurdish villages along the Turkish border, including Amuda, Derik, Ain Diwar, Malkiye and Derbassiye. According to Timo, Syrian authorities made efforts to restore calm and had held a meeting with leaders of both sides. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-3-17 11:12:00 AM |
| #2 Personally, I blame Schroedinger. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-3-17 10:06:25 AM |
| #1 knew this was a BBC article just from the headline, the sneer marks are a dead givaway. are they implying they are half dead or perhaps in a zombiefied state,or are they just dead,yes dead without the sneer marks. |
| Posted by: Jon Shep U.K 2004-3-17 9:42:57 AM |