Word: komal
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...morning, while in a position being bombarded by mortars for six hours, one of the local fighters known as peshmerga told me, "These bombs don't recognize your identity." Territory shifts frequently. The day before the blast, the checkpoints were manned by a local fundamentalist militia, known as Komal, which is allied to Ansar and protects its northern flank...
...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...
...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...
...director general for security, a man who goes by the name of Dr. Khasraw, hints there may have been more substance to the split between the Islamic groups. Indeed he readily makes concessions for the local militants, suggesting somewhat sympathetically that Komal's logistic support for Ansar's attempted assassination on the Kurdish prime minister earlier this year may have been given without the leadership's knowledge. "They cannot account for individuals," he says. He confirmed government discussions had been underway with Komal, but did not give details...
...American advisers have recently been seen visiting PUK command posts on the Ansar frontline. Speculation abounds that U.S. bombers will soften the terrorists' bunkers in the lead-up to a Kurdish assault. Anything Komal could have offered in whittling away Ansar's support would have been helpful to the cause. That is now lost, with mourner's at Qasre's funeral charging the PUK with his assassination, rejecting claims that government soldiers had overreacted in nervous anticipation of another suicide bomber. That suggests they've been pushed back into the arms of Ansar, who may be the biggest beneficiaries...