Kurdish fighters deployed in restive province

 

Azzaman, June 14, 2007

 

Iraqi Kurdish fighters known as Peshmerga are increasingly involved in the current U.S.-led military operations against armed groups in the country.

 

Thousands of Kurdish fighters have joined the battle for Baghdad which started nearly three months ago but has failed to bring stability to the Iraqi capital.

 

The spokesman for Kurdish Peshmerga, Brigadier Jabbar Yawer, now says the Kurds are sending 2,000 more of their armed men to quell the rebellion and violence in the Province of Diyala.

 

The participation of Kurdish Peshmerga alongside U.S. invasion troops has been harshly criticized by Islamic groups in the Kurdish region.

 

Kurdish Mulism Ulema or clergy have issued fatwas or decrees denouncing the move and branding those taking part in U.S.-led military operations as ‘non-Muslims’.

 

Major Kurdish political factions are allies of Iraqi Arab Shiites ruling the country, but the majority Kurds are Sunnis and Arab Sunnis form the backbone of Iraqi resistance.

 

But Yawer said the four battalions being deployed to Diyala will only be stationed in towns and villages with a predominantly Kurdish population.

 

Yawer said the deployment came following a formal request by the Iraqi government and ‘multinational forces’ in the country.