PUK insurgency | ||||||||
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Part of the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict | ||||||||
| ||||||||
Belligerents | ||||||||
Iraq | PUK | KDP | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
Saddam Hussein |
Jalal Talabani Nawshirwan Mustafa Ali Askari † |
Mustafa Barzani Massoud Barzani | ||||||
Strength | ||||||||
30,000 | 55,000 | |||||||
Casualties and losses | ||||||||
unknown | 16,000 killed | |||||||
Total: 1,000+ killed |
The PUK insurgency was a low-level rebellion of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) against Baathist Iraq from 1975 to 1979, following the defeat of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War, which forced that organization to declare a ceasefire and move into exile in Iran. Due to lack of foreign support, the PUK guerrillas were only able to operate in the most remote parts of the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan.[1] During this period, the PUK plunged into a political crisis with the KDP, which led to heavy intra-Kurdish warfare, climaxing in 1977. After the insurgency, the PUK entered into an alliance with Iranian forces during the Iran–Iraq War, and were backed by Iran in the Kurdish rebellion of 1983.