Clashes between Iraqi Kurds and Islamists

Some 20 persons were killed or wounded from the fighters of the Kurdistani National Federation in armed clashes that took place yesterday morning against armed Islamists believed to have links to al-Qaida organization near Halabja city to the north of Iraq.

One member of an armed Kurdish group, Sheikh Jafaar Mustafa, said that armed men belong to Ansar al-Islam ( Islam partisans ) controlled two mountainous positions that used to be controlled by the Kurdistani national federation, noting that his fighters were unable to retrieve the bodies of the killed, while reinforcements were sent from the special forces of the Kurdistani National Federation to the region.

He added he does not know the volume of casualties inflected by the armed men of Ansar al-Oslam group, noting that they used heavy artillery in the attack which took place at the slopes of Surin Mountain on the Iraqi- Iranian borders.

Mustafa said that Ansar al-Islam includes Kurds and Arab-Afghans believed to have connections to al-Qaida organization.

Officials at Halabja hospital, 9 kilometers from the site of the clashes said they are treating 6 persons wounded with bullets.