ERBIL, Iraq, March 30 (UPI) -- Additional U.S. troops have been deployed in the Kurdish-controlled enclave in north Iraq Sunday, a Kurdish source told United Press International.
The source said the U.S. troops arrived in Harir airport, 50 miles northeast of Erbil and were deployed in military positions held by the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Masud Barzani.
Similar troops landings were also reported in areas 5 miles west of Suleimaniya, the center of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan administration led by Jalal Talabani.
Kurdish officials who placed their estimated 100,000 Peshmerga fighters under U.S. command, say there are no plans to launch a land attack against the northern Iraqi cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, and that U.S. military reinforcements in north Iraq were aimed at boosting the Kurds' defensive position.
U.S. and British warplanes, however, staged airstrikes Sunday against Iraqi army positions near Mosul and Kirkuk.
KDP official Amin Najjar told UPI the bombardment targeted Iraqi gunners who had opened fire on Kurdish positions in the village of Iski Kalak. Military sources in north Iraq said heavy U.S.-British bombardment forced Iraqi troops to retreat some 15 miles from Kurdish positions in Erbil and surrounding areas.
