Word: ansar
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...muddy battlefields near the town of Halabja on the Iran-Iraq border, the Kurdish militants of Komal guard the northern flank of the war's principal aggressors, Ansar al Islam. Western and local intelligence services have suggested variously that Ansar is backed by al-Qaeda, Tehran and Baghdad. Whatever the identity of its sponsors, Ansar has proved to be a major headache for the local authorities - the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which runs the eastern section of the Kurdish region protected by the Anglo-American "no-fly" zone. For the past year, Ansar fighters have periodically attacked and overrun...
...February 26, Ansar sent a suicide bomber behind PUK lines, killing two soldiers and a taxi driver outside of Halabja. The PUK's dialogue with Komal was designed to isolate and weaken Ansar from a potential ally...
...Islamic group known as Komal, one of the plethora of sectarian factions that riddle Kurdish politics. Komal, however, has come to be particularly important in recent months in light of the bloody war raging between ruling parties of Iraqi Kurdistan and Islamist groups linked with al-Qaeda, such as Ansar al-Islam. The local government had entered into a covert dialogue with Komal, hoping to draw it out of the Islamist nexus. The bloody checkpoint scene, captured by a Time photographer who arrived during the gun battle, has now thrown that dialogue into disarray. Komal supporters immediately blamed local government...
...some time PUK intelligence and government figures have been in communication with Komal's leadership. The day before the suicide bombing, Ansar's pirate radio station, transmitting only a few miles beyond the snowy mountains that host their bunkers, aired a vehement denunciation of the Kurdish group's contact with the government. On the PUK's frontline, troops gathered around radios and listened to the diatribe accusing Komal of being infidels. The soldiers dismissed it as a ploy - a few hours later Ansar vehicles and gunmen had moved into Komal's area of control to improve their position...
...forces continue to encircle Iraq in a looming military action, Saddam's troops are preparing for possible showdowns with both American and Kurdish forces. But the Kurdish fighters seem more concerned about the presence of another foe: Ansar al-Islam, the terrorist-backed, Baghdad-aligned militia based in Kurdistan, whom they know to be a far fiercer enemy than the Iraqis...