Associated Press.

March 27, 2003, Thursday

HEADLINE: Kurds celebrate Iraqi retreat from checkpoint after U.S.-led bombing

BYLINE: By BORZOU DARAGAHI, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: BANI MAQEM, Iraq

BODY:
A hilltop position where Iraqi forces had menaced Kurdish civilians for years fell Thursday, after several days of bombing by the U.S. military.

Villagers and militiamen celebrated after Kurdish military commanders confirmed the Iraqis had abandoned the checkpoint and surrounding bunkers by mid-afternoon.

The retreat came less than a day after U.S. paratroopers landed in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq , opening a new front against Saddam Hussein's forces.

From the hills, the Iraqis had repeatedly shelled the Kurdish-controlled city of Chamchamal in the 1990s, making the checkpoint and barracks symbols of repression for the Kurds.

On Thursday, Kurdish militiamen gathered up mines along the road, while residents drove, rode bicycles or walked to the checkpoint cheering.

"The people here have looked up at this line for 12 years and they saw a chance to go up there and they took it," said Rostam Hamid Rahim, a high-level Kurdish military commander.

Abbas Kaka drove up with a truckcount of young people.

"All the bunkers are empty," he said. "It's all right to go up there."

After the hilltop position fell, Kurdish forces swept the area in case the Iraqis had planned an ambush. Kurdish peshmerga guerrilla forces then took over the checkpoint and the Bani Maqem barracks, Rahim said.

The barracks are close to the line that separates the Kurdish-held section of northern Iraq from territory under the control of the Iraqi president.

By nightfall, it was believed the Iraqis had retreated west to Qarah Anjir, 16 miles from Chamchamal. However, Rahim said there was no evidence of Saddam's forces falling at other defense positions between Chamchamal and Iraqi-controlled Kirkuk , a key oil city 22 miles to the east.

After years of oppression, some Kurds, encouraged by the Iraqi retreat, were eager to press forward and return to their hometowns, even though the communities remained under Iraqi control.

"We're ready to go back to our lives in Kirkuk ," said 29-year-old Ali Mustawfa.

But Rahim wanted to prevent such movement. Kurdish officials have promised the Americans they would not advance toward Kirkuk , which is predominantly Kurdish, without U.S. approval.

The Americans fear a Kurdish move on the Iraqi-controlled city could prompt the Turkish military to invade northern Iraq . Ankara fears that Iraqi Kurds will take over Kirkuk to create an independent, oil-rich homeland that would inspire Turkey 's Kurdish minority to revolt.

Meanwhile, a Toyota Land Cruiser filled with explosives was stopped Thursday at a Kurdish checkpoint in Gerdigo, the same place where a car bomb killed an Australian reporter last Saturday. The bomb apparently failed to detonate and Kurdish security men shot to death the driver, a member of Ansar al-Islam, an Islamic group with alleged al-Qaida and Baghdad ties.