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To: Box-By-The-Riviera™ who wrote (233876)	4/6/2003 10:07:37 PM
From: UnBelievable	Respond to of 436258

Some Kurds In The Way US Bombs Its Own Convoy In Northern Iraq IRBIL, Iraq (AP)--U.S. aircraft bombed a joint convoy of Kurdish fighters and U.S. Special Forces in northern Iraq, killing at least 18 people and injuring at least 45 others, a Kurdish party spokesman said. The bombing Sunday along battle lines southeast of Irbil killed at least 17 Kurdish fighters and a translator for the British Broadcasting Corp., said Hoshyar Zebari, a senior member of Kurdish leadership. The bombing -which hit some top Kurdish commanders -highlights the intensity of combat along the northern front, where Iraqi forces face joint U.S.-Kurdish ground offensives backed by air power. Among the wounded were some top military officials for the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of the two main Kurdish factions, he said. Kurdish special forces commander Wajy Barzani, the younger brother of the party's political leader Massoud Barzani was in critical condition and airlifted by U.S. forces to a hospital in Germany, said Zebari. Other senior Kurdish military commanders -Saeed Abdullah, Abdul Rahman, Mamasta Hehman and Mansur Barzani, the political leader's son -also suffered injuries. The U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar, said its "early casualty reports" on what appeared to be the same incident gave lower figures: one civilian killed and six people wounded, including a U.S. soldier. But the command said the investigation was not complete. Zebari said the mistake could have been caused over a confusing and changing battle scene between Pir Dawad and Dibagah, 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Irbil. The U.S. statement differed slightly on the location of the incident, saying it was approximately 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Mosul, near Kalak. Kalak is 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Dibagah. Kurdish and U.S. forces called for "close air support" after a column of Iraqi tanks tried to turn back advancing coalition soldiers. The convoy was near disabled Iraqi tanks when it was struck, Zebari said. "Maybe they had mistaken some of the tanks that the (Kurdish fighters) had taken with the new column of tanks," he told reporters. "This was a war situation and these things happen." It was not clear whether the convoy was on the front line of fighting or behind the most forward positions. Hours after the bombing, the Iraqi forces were pushed back at least 200 meters (yards) beyond the wreckage. Driving Iraqi troops from Dibagah would cut off the main road connecting the main northern cities in Baghdad hands: Mosul and Kirkuk. BBC world affairs editor John Simpson, who was wounded in the incident, said the convoy contained between eight and 10 cars, two of which carried U.S. Special Forces troops. BBC translator Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed, who had been working for BBC since March, died in the bombing from blood loss after losing his legs. "I saw people burning to death in front of me," reported Simpson, who suffered minor shrapnel wounds. Zebari said the incident would not undercut Kurdish military and political backing for the coalition effort to topple Saddam. "It will not affect ... our resolve to work together," Zebari said. Massoud Barzani and the entire top ranks of his party's leadership were at the hospital, guarded by hundreds of Kurdish militiamen. Throngs of onlookers pressed forward, making it difficult for ambulances to pass. U.S. servicemen also arrived with vehicles, but it was unclear whether they carried any victims.