U.S. and British aircraft pounded Ansar el-Islam pockets

SULAYMANIYA, Iraq, March 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. missile hit Islamic groups in northern Iraq early Saturday, March 22, as well as the base of a mainstream Islamic party, killing at least 45 people, Kurdish officials and fleeing resident told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), an ally of Washington , said a Komala Islami Kurdistan (Islamic Society of Kurdistan) base near the town of Khormal was also targeted during the blitz.

"A Komala office was hit. I saw at least 12 bodies and there were more dead under the rubble," fleeing resident Saleh Ali told AFP.

An official from a local moderate Islamic group, the Islamic Movement of Iraqi Kurdistan (IMIK), said he saw at least 45 bodies from a missile strike on another Komala office.

"Near Khormal there is another Komala office that was destroyed. There were 45 people inside and all of them were killed," said the IMIK's Kamal Haji Ali.

Other sources from the PUK and IMIK, as well as fleeing residents, put the number of Komala dead at between 50 and 100, and said the injured had been taken over the border to Iran for treatment.

For its part, Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite channel said at least 45 people were killed in the U.S. cruise missile attack.

The positions of Ansar Al-Islam group (Supporters of Islam) and Al-Jamah al-Islamia (Islamic Group) in Khormal, northern Iraq , were completely destroyed and bodies blasted to pieces, the all-news Arabic network’s corresponded reported.

The Khormal site was identified last month by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell as an alleged chemical weapons plant of Ansar al-Islam.

Al-Ansar's enclave in Iraqi Kurdistan was also targeted early Saturday by up to 50 cruise missiles, a top military leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said, adding that there were "many dead".

PUK sources said that the group’s, allegedly accused by Washington of being linked to al-Qaeda, positions were pounded by around five missiles later on Friday, March 21.

Ansar al-Islam controls a tiny pocket of territory between the town of Halabja and the Iranian border, an area around 80 kilometers southeast of the PUK's administrative centre of Sulaymaniya.

Given the U.S. allegation against Ansar and assertions from Washington that a key aim of the war is to “prevent weapons of mass destruction” falling into the hands of Islamic groups, the group was widely expected to be targeted in the opening stages of the war.

Most of rebel-held northern Iraq is in the hands of two mainstream Kurdish factions, the PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which wrested control of the region in the wake of the last Gulf War in 1991.

Ansar al-Islam, which has an estimated 800 fighters based in a cluster of around 16 villages, has also been battling the secular PUK.

The suspected leader of Ansar al-Islam, Mullah Krekar, was reportedly arrested late Thursday, March 20, in Norway after he warned in an interview that U.S. troops would face attacks.

Krekar, who has enjoyed political refugee status in Norway since 1991, faces possible legal action for an interview Wednesday, March 19, on Dutch television in which he warned U.S. forces of fierce resistance.

"We have young people who will give their lives, yes, suicide attacks," Krekar said.

He had been arrested in The Netherlands in September and spent nearly four months in custody where he was also questioned by the FBI.

Krekar was eventually released and sent back to Norway , where he has been interrogated almost every day by the PST, Norway 's secret police.

Turkey Confirms Troops Inside Northern Iraq

Turkey Confirms Troops Inside Northern Iraq

Turkey confirmed 1,500 of its forces have entered northern Iraq

Turkey confirmed 1,500 of its forces have entered northern Iraq  

In another development, Turkey confirmed Saturday that its troops had already advanced into northern Iraq , BBC television reported.

Earlier in the day, the Turkish satellite television station CNN-Turk said Turkish military units crossed into northern Iraq from the south-eastern town of Cukurca during the night to prepare the ground for the arrival of more units.

A Kurdish military commander in the Zakho region, near the border with Turkey , said that as far as he was aware no Turkish troops had entered northern Iraq overnight.

Asked if he was aware of reports that around 1,500 Turkish troops had crossed into Kurdish-controlled Iraq , Wahid Bakouzi, head of the Darkar barracks and one of two commanders in the Zakho region, said: "No."

The press service of the KDP was also unable to confirm the information.

Washington has frequently warned Turkey against unilateral military action in northern Iraq , saying any Turkish foray into the region should be under the command of the U.S.-led coalition.

However, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said late Friday that Turkish troops would enter northern Iraq allegedly to stop any exodus of refugees towards the Turkish border and to prevent Kurdish rebels from using the area for operations against Turkish targets.

"All problems with the United States have been resolved. Turkish soldiers will go into northern Iraq ," Gul told reporters on his return from Brussels where he attended an E.U. summit.

His comments followed Turkey 's decision to open its airspace to U.S. warplanes bound for Iraq after 24 hours of tense gamesmanship during which it sought to win approval for its own military intervention in northern Iraq .

A "great many" U.S. warplanes have been flying through Turkish airspace since late Friday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported Saturday.

The agency did not specify how many planes had transited through Turkish airspace or at what time.

"It has been determined that it is in Turkey 's interests to open Turkish airspace," Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul said on Turkish television Friday.