Iraq said today its forces had crushedan Iranian attack on a strategic mountain peak in a rugged and
snow-clad area of Iraqi Kurdistan.
    The official Iraqi news agency INA said the attack was
repelled yesterday by the Fifth Army Corps' 96th Brigade on
"Karda Ku" peak, overlooking the northern post of Haj Omran and
340 kms north of Baghdad.
    INA said hundreds of Iranians were killed and large
quantities of armour and weapons were left behind. It did not
give Iraqi casualties.
    The Iranian news agency IRNA said yesterday that Iraqi
troops had suffered 3,000 casualties in Iran's week-old
offensive in northeast Iraq.
    Iran attacked across snow-capped peaks of northeastern Iraq
last week in an area which saw heavy fighting in mid-1983.
    The thrust followed fierce battles near Basra, Iraq's
second city on the southern front of the 6-1/2-year-old
conflict, after an Iranian cross-border offensive launched on
January 9.
    The political department head at Iraq's Defence Ministry,
Abdul Jabbar Muhsen, said on Monday fighting was continuing in
the north but that Iran had exaggerated battle reports.
    He said Tehran had done this "to make up for failure in the
south and to encourage anti-Baghdad Kurdish rebels to support
its troops."
    Tehran has supported anti-Baghdad Kurdish guerrillas in
operations against government positions and installations in
northern Iraq.
 REUTER
