In January 1983, the Peshmerga officials in the Duhok region held a meeting to continue the Peshmerga activities and attack the Ba'ath bases and outposts, in order to attack the Ba'ath regime's forces severely, instill fear and anxiety in the hearts of their forces, and remind them of the power and ability of the Peshmerga. The responsible and members of the Duhok Regional Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the responsible and members of the Hormuz Malik and Tahir Zeweyi organization participated in the meeting. They formed a group as an initial reconnaissance to go and identify a place, for knowledge and gathering information and how to attack the military base. The Peshmerga group consisted of eight people under the supervision of Muhammad Salih. On the night of 9 to 10 of January 1983, they identified an outpost in the border of Bade village (Murad, 2007, 160).
During that time, the activities of the Kurdish revolution in partisan warfare against the dominant regime were mostly seen in attacking outposts and military bases (Barzani, 2021, 93). The Peshmerga reached near the outpost, which was located on a high, rugged place, and was mined in several rows around it. The Peshmerga very carefully, without the soldiers of the outpost waking up, removed the mines and neutralized them and put them back in their place so that the soldiers would not feel that they had been tampered with. Then they identified three points in the western part of the outpost 40 – 50m apart from each other, two places for positioning the RPG and the other for the BKC to fire at the outpost from there. After they finished carrying out the first plan, they left the place. The next day they returned to the regional headquarters and reported all the plans and information to the Peshmerga force officials (Murad, 2007, 160).
In that era, the Peshmerga force was organized within the framework of party organization such as branch, region, and organization (Gardi, 2021, 269). The responsible of the region and both aforementioned organizations had gathered the Peshmerga and formed a force of 21 Peshmerga under the supervision of Muhammad Salih, without any of the Peshmerga being told what they were doing and where they were going.
On the 10 of the month, they set off towards the villages of Buyta and Bakoze and went to the village of Bade. To eat dinner, they were distributed among the houses and then went to the village mosque to rest. At midnight, that is, after the villagers had slept, they got up and prepared themselves. The force commander revealed the attack plan for the outpost near the village to the Peshmerga. He divided his force into the points they had previously planned for. For each point, four Peshmerga were assigned to use the RPG and BKC, which was the first wave of the attack (Murad, 2007, 161).
At 12 on the night of 11 to 12 of December 1983, the Peshmerga force appeared in the village of Bade towards the height above the village where an outpost of the government military forces had been placed to monitor the village and its surroundings for the presence of Peshmerga forces. It was a cold, snowy winter midnight. The Peshmerga lined up one after another and climbed the height. By one o'clock at night, they reached the destination, which was the point for placing the RPG and BKC. In a short time, without being negligent, as it was planned, each team took its way towards its point, and the activity commander Muhammad Salih was guiding them. The RPG and BKC handlers were positioned in the designated place (Murad, 2007, 161).
At one o'clock at night, the order was given by the force commander for the first wave to take place, which consisted of two RPGs and a BKC. Upon receiving the order, from three points, the walls and rooms of the outpost turned red with sudden strikes. The dark and pitch-black night became a bright day. The sparks of the RPG and BKC bullet explosions spread around the outpost. Within 20 minutes, each RPG fired 6 shells at the walls of the outpost. When the Peshmerga realized that the soldiers of the outpost were exhausted and damaged at the guard point, they stopped the RPG attack and the second wave began, which was attacking into the outpost.
The Peshmerga approached the walls of the outpost and with hand grenades set fire to the inside of the outpost again. Wherever the sound of soldiers' gunfire came from, they threw several grenades at it and it became silent. When they realized that the resistance had ended, several Peshmerga threw themselves into the outpost and took control of the entire outpost. They fired several bullets upwards into the sky as a sign of victory and capturing the outpost (Murad, 2007, 162).
After the outpost was captured, all the soldiers who were on duty there, 9 people, were killed and four were taken prisoner, one of whom was the responsible of the outpost. All weapons and ammunition were seized. The amount consisted of 10 Kalashnikovs, 4 RPGs, and 7 sniper rifles along with 300 Kalashnikov bullets, 15 RPG shells, 700 BKC bullets, 120 hand grenades, 64 rifle magazines, and some other equipment. Then they took the spoils, put the prisoners in front of them, and left the place. They set off towards the village of Bade, and from there by a car towards the village of Zewe. After a short rest, they set off towards the regional committee headquarters. When they arrived, they were given a warm welcome by the regional responsible and all the Peshmerga. They presented the prisoners and the spoils to the regional committee. After a meeting, the spoils were distributed among the Peshmerga, then they held a celebration, and they started singing and dancing on the occasion of the victory (Murad, 2007, 163).
Sources:1- Barzani, Masoud, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Four, 1975-1990 Gulan Revolution, Part Two, First Edition, Roxana Printing House, 2021.
2- Murad, Muhammad, Khabata Chia, Memories and Events of the Gulan Revolution between the years (176-1989), Kurdistan Printing House – Zakho, 2007.
3- Gardi, Ghazi Adil, A Peshmerga in the Service of Barzani's Path, Haji Birokhi, Volume Two, Second Edition, Turkey- 2021.