Iraqi troops cross line, skirmish with Kurds

In this story: Source contradicts official announcement State department concerned over oil money RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Andrea Koppel
CNN State Department Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hundreds of Iraqi troops crossed into Kurdish-controlled territory last weekend and engaged in skirmishes with armed Kurdish militia, Kurdish and U.S. officials told CNN Tuesday.

The Iraqi troops, elements of two battalions, crossed into the Kurdish-controlled region early Saturday morning, said Farhad Barzani, the Washington representative of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP).

The incursion took place approximately five miles inside the northern corner of Iraq, territory that is off-limits to the Iraqi military.

"We got a report from the Kurds that the Iraqi forces had moved across the green line and assumed positions in some ridges around Baidhrah," said Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon in a briefing.

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Source contradicts official announcement

Bacon said that was no direct engagement or exchange of gunfire, but a senior administration official told CNN "a lot of shots were fired."

"We were watching it like hawks," said the official.

U.S. officials said they are reluctant to draw any "big conclusions" over the incursion for two reasons: one, the Iraqi commander and his troops crossed the line without tanks or artillery; two, the Iraqi troops were "understrength" to carry out a serious attack.

But the KDP's Barzani told CNN the Kurds believe the main objective was to test the United States' response.

Since the end of the 1991 Gulf War, the United States has enumerated several geographic lines and warned Saddam Hussein the U.S. would respond if any were crossed.

One of those lines was supposed to be this Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Iraq, a swatch of no-man's land sandwiched between the Iraqi-Turkish border and the Iraqi-Iranian border. It is patrolled by U.S. and British jets based in Turkey.

State department concerned over oil money

In another development Tuesday, the U.S. State Department expressed concern over new reports the Iraqi government is attempting to force its oil customers to pay a premium for oil.

"The Iraqi government is attempting to force its oil customers to violate U.N. Security Council resolutions by demanding they secretly pay a premium into an Iraqi-controlled account," said acting spokesman Charles F. Hunter.

He said a U.N. Security Council resolution requires that fees paid for Iraqi oil must be deposited into a U.N.-controlled escrow account. Those funds are then used for the oil-for-food program.

That program provides humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people.

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U.S. Department of Defense
Iraqi Presidency
Amnesty International Report 1999: IRAQ
ArabNet: Iraq
U.S. Department of State, Human Rights Report
Iraqi National Congress

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