Kurds engage Iranians in a 'second war'

Ignoring offers of pardon to mark the second anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution, Kurdish insurgents were reported locked in renewed fighting with government troops in the mountains of northwest Iran. The Kurdish rebels, seeking autonomy, are tying down sizable government forces in a "second war" in a country fighting a powerful Iraqi invasion army. Refugees from the embattled Kurdish stronghold of Mahabad reported by telephone that the rebels were paying no heed to government radio broadcasts offering pardon to insurgents laying down their arms before Wednesday, the public holiday marking the anniversary. The offer of pardon was the latest in a long series of appeals and ultimatums issued by the government since Kurdish demands for autonomy flared into armed insurgency some two months after the Islamic revolution.