PRO-BAGHDAD Kurdish militiamen launched a counter-attack yesterday in an attempt to retake a key town from a rival guerrilla group pushing through northern Iraq, witnesses said.
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) fighters deployed near the town of Degala fired heavy machineguns at Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) positions in a bid to recapture the nearby town of Koy Sanjak.
"We will get back Koy Sanjak by ascending hill by hill," Mr Arif Tayfur, regional commander of KDP forces, said.
No outside forces appeared to be involved in the fighting, part of a long Kurdish feud shaping up as a proxy conflict between Iran and Iraq.
Washington, closely watching the fighting, has counselled both sides to quit the battlefield and return to the negotiating table. It has also urged the Kurds not to seek support from either Iran or Iraq, part of a policy of "dual containment" designed to minimise the influence of both powers in regional disputes.
The PUK yesterday rejected Baghdad's offer to mediate between the warring factions and said any resolution of the crisis would require an American diplomatic and military role.
Mr Adnan Mufti, a senior PUK official, also repeated assurances that the group had received no military backing from Iran.
"We do not believe in Baghdad's policy, but we are asking for the continuation of US mediation," he said during a visit to Ankara for meetings with Turkish and US diplomats.
Mr Mufti said the PUK demanded the continuation of American humanitarian aid and protection for Iraqi Kurds under Operation Provide Comfort, the US-led mission which has mounted patrols over northern Iraq from an air force base in, Turkey since shortly after the 1991 Gulf war.
Iraqi leaders on Sunday urged both factions to put aside their differences and resume dialogue with Baghdad. But Mr Mufti said the KDP must cut its recent ties to the central government in Baghdad before any settlement was possible.
KDP leader, Mr Massoud Barzani, who made a deal in August with the Iraqi government to secure control of the north of the country, accused Iranian forces on Sunday of entering northern Iraq on the side of the PUK.
The Turkish Foreign Minister, Ms Tansu Ciller, also said yesterday that Turkey had received information that there were Iranians fighting alongside PUK forces.
Asked if Turkey had launched a diplomatic initiative vis-a-vis Iran, Ms Ciller said: "We are following the issue; a dialogue is continuing (with Iran)." Shortly before Ms Ciller's remarks, a KDP official said his group had asked Turkey to urge Iran to keep out of northern Iraq. "We would like Turkey to affect the position of Iran to keep out of Kurdish politics in Iraq," Mr Faiq Nerwi said.
Mr Sami Abdel Rahman, the KDP's deputy leader, held talks with Turkish diplomats in Ankara on Monday before flying to Washington.
PUK forces, driven out of much of northern Iraq by the KDP last month, recaptured the town of Sulaymaniyah on Sunday and have advanced toward the main Kurdish city of Arbil in a lightning offensive.