Some 17 Kurds killed, confrontation increases pressures in Syria
Syria, Politics, 3/18/2004

Syrian Kurdish sources said that the confrontations between the Arab citizens and the Kurds developed during the past 24 hours in the north east part of the country and this resulted in killing 17 persons all of them Kurds, so as number of killings since the eruption of the clashes on Friday reached 36, according to the same sources.

Member of the political bureau of the Kurdistani people's federation party, which is banned in Syria, Mashaal Timo, said that the confrontations continued on Tuesday evening in the northern part of the country especially in Aleppo area.

He indicated that 9 Kurds were killed in the two suburbs of al-Ashrafeyah and al-Sheikh Maqsoud in the city of Aleppo, while other 6 were killed in Ifrin to the west of Aleppo, besides two others in Raas al-Ein near the border with Turkey.

Timo added that the confrontations also prevailed the suburbs of the towns of Amouda, Dereik, Ein Dewar, al-Malekeyah and al-Derbaseyah which border Turkey.

Since last Friday, violent confrontations have taken place between the Kurds and the security forces started in al-Qamishli city before a football match was converted into acts of riots when supporters of the rival team chanted slogans against the Iraqi Kurds leaders and carried the pictures of the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

In the second day demonstrations of protests converted into acts of riots and these clashes in certain times took the form of confrontations between Kurds and Arab tribes that resulted in hundreds of wounded and detainees as well as damaging a train station, schools and government offices in the north east of the country.

The governor of al-Hassaka, Salim Kabboul, said that five Syrian Arabs were killed in north- east Syria since the eruption of the riots acts with the Kurds on march 12.

In withstanding these acts of unrest, the Syrian official departments announced opening investigations. The Syrian authorities denied ethnic tensions to be behind the problem blaming riot makers of having foreign links and political intensions.

Previous Stories:
  Gul: Riots are not in the service of Turkey; Damascus reacts judiciously, clashes renewed   (3/17/2004)
  Al-Assad is today in Saudi Arabia   (3/17/2004)
  Damascus accuses arrivals from neighbors, denies the existence of a Kurdish problem   (3/16/2004)

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