Iraqis melt away as Kurdish troops take to the hills

By Julius Strauss in Chamchamal

By Julius Strauss in Chamchamal

28 March 2003

THERE was a burst of automatic fire, a long, lazy silence and then some more shots. In the dim distance dozens of Kurdish peshmerga could be seen swarming up the hillside the Iraqis had held only an hour before.

Then a guerrilla threw a grenade into the mouth of the largest Iraqi bunker on the ridge and there came a sudden orange glow as its contents exploded.

After days of pounding by American bombers, the Iraqi northern front melted away yesterday afternoon.

Hundreds of Baghdad's soldiers quietly packed away their gear, abandoned their positions and headed west.

So quiet was their departure that Kurdish locals, who have become inured to living in the line of fire of Iraqi tanks, artillery and machine guns, failed to notice.

It was not until two curious border guards stumbled into an empty Iraqi checkpoint that the news broke.

Within minutes the locals of Chamchamal, some disbelieving, some delirious with joy, swarmed up to the Iraqi border post.

Long columns of local men, dressed in baggy trousers and cheap Chinese shoes, mounted bicycles and pick-ups, cheering wildly. One shouted anti-Saddam slogans.

Others clapped each other fiercely on the back and kissed repeatedly even as sporadic gunfire echoed around the rolling hills and valleys.

For the Kurds, yesterday's Iraqi reversal was the first tangible sign that the Allies had Baghdad on the back foot and came just hours after the airdrop of 1,000 United States paratroopers into northern Iraq.

Some had predicted the Iraqi lines would fold within hours of the opening bombing raids last week and had been sorely disappointed to watch each raid pass without apparent effect.

Ahmed Ali, a 24-year-old businessman, said: "I feel finally that this is the beginning of the end. Saddam will be out within days now." Aziz Karim, a local mine clearer, said: "All Iraqis have dreamt of a moment such as this."

As the locals swarmed towards the positions the Iraqis had held so recently, there was joy but also anger, confusion and fear. A soldier fired three pistol shots above our heads to halt our car.

Further down the road two groups of rival peshmerga squabbled and drew guns, before being bundled away by the security police.

At one point the distant drone of American planes could be heard high overhead and a panic set in.

By early evening the first two Iraqi deserters had reached the Kurdish line of control and were brought to Chamchamal.

Both looked terrified. The first, a balding 37-year-old infantryman from near Basra, ate the food offered him ravenously. He said: "A bombing raid two days ago killed four of my comrades. I saw their bodies blown to pieces. At 5am we decided to slip out of the camp."

The second was a 39-year-old artillery officer with grey hair. He said his family was still in Iraqi-controlled territory and he feared for their lives. But any sense of a decisive victory against the Iraqis was soon dispelled by local peshmerga officials.

They said they had been expecting the retreat for some time and that the Iraqis were already forming a tighter, stronger line some 12 miles to the rear. Adil, a high-ranking local security official, said: "Unfortunately they have simply pulled back to more defensible positions.

"Their aim is to form a compact, solid line on a ridge just outside Kirkuk. "When we reached their bunkers, everything had been carefully packed up and taken away. Together with the Allies we can crush the Iraqis, but it will not be tomorrow or the next day."