KURDISH PARTY ACCUSES IRAQ ARMY OF ATTACKS

A Kurdish opposition party accused Iraq Monday of fresh military attacks on villages and towns in Iraqi Kurdistan and said it had appealed for help from the United Nations and Western countries.Latif Rashid, a spokesman in London for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), said about 60 people were injured and hundreds forced to flee Sunday when Iraqi troops using helicopters, artillery, and tanks attacked the town of Taqtaq. The town in northern Iraq was among seven places Rashid said had come under attack Saturday and Sunday, several of them in the key oil-producing province of Kirkuk. He said Kurdish fighters captured eight army officers and 34 soldiers in fighting Saturday in the town of Bawanour and handed them over to United Nations guards. The PUK, he said, considered the attacks a breach of UN resolutions.