Posted on 04/03/2003 11:44:18 PM PST by HAL9000
NEAR KHAZER, Iraq (AFP) - Iraqi forces hunkered down near the strategic northern junction of Khazer fired rockets and artillery Friday morning on positions they abandoned after fierce fighting the day before, an AFP correspondent said.
The rockets were launched around 10:30 am, about half an hour after artillery was fired on frontline positions Iraqi troops have progressively abandoned since Wednesday.
The Iraqis have at least partially regrouped near Khazer, about a dozen kilometres (eight miles) from the positions, which are themselves located about 30 kilometres east of Mosul.
US-backed Kurdish fighters clashed on Thursday with Iraqi troops near Khazer, a strategic junction on the road to Mosul, as US special forces and Kurds advanced on the oil capital of Kirkuk.
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