It is clear that the Peshmerga force had been away from the Erbil Plain for a while due to the heavy pressure from the government and the hired gunmen. Because of that, the opportunity for government forces and hired gunmen (Jash) had been provided in a way that they could behave as they wished in the villages with the citizens and villagers. Therefore, the Peshmerga of the Erbil Plain force, under the command of Faris Bawa, deemed it necessary to hold a meeting and discuss the situation. After discussion and exchange of views, it was decided to send a force back to the Erbil Plain to carry out several activities and fill the void that had been neglected in the Peshmerga's activities.
One of the Peshmerga activities that was carried out during that period was attacking the bases of the hired gunmen in both villages of Kardiz and Karzor in the Erbil Plain. Clearly, this battle and several other Peshmerga battles with the Jash confirm the information that for a while, the Peshmerga battles were more with the hired gunmen than with the army and other government forces, due to the situation that had arisen in Iraq and the Ba'athists had seized power for the second time through a coup, and their relationship with the revolution was passing through a state of neither war nor peace.
The Peshmerga force, on the night of May 18 to 19, 1969, drew up a solid plan to carry out an activity, which consisted of raiding the bases of the hired gunmen (Jash) in both mentioned villages near the Erbil-Altun Kupri road, because since they had been stationed in that area, they were playing a bad and unfavorable role and were harming the villagers and farmers.
The Peshmerga attack started suddenly at 11:00 PM and continued until 1:00 AM. It is clear that the Erbil Plain force, in one of its previous activities, had captured a military vehicle and with plates and carbon had made a tank out of it. Battalion Two, commanded by Sergeant Osman, and Battalion Three, commanded by Ahmad Haji Ali, attacked the gunmen of Kardiz village with the makeshift tank. Due to the use of the tank in that flank of the Peshmerga attack, they were able to defeat the gunmen in a short time and take control of their bases. Also, the Third Battalion, commanded by Said Kaka attacked the village of Karzor. After a battle of several hours, they were able to achieve victory, defeat the gunmen, and drive them out of the area.
In the attack on both villages, in addition to the defeat of the hired gunmen force, they suffered heavy human and material losses, which consisted of the killing of 50 gunmen, the wounding of 30 other gunmen, and the capture of one gunman. Among the dead were two hired gunman officials who were from Erbil. In this battle, the Peshmerga force had many gains in weapons, military equipment, and supplies, such as one Oerlikon cannon, three Bren machine guns, 12 bolt-action rifles, one Kalashnikov, three Simonov rifles, four 11-round rifles, two English bolt-action rifles, along with a large number of English and Russian bolt-action bullets, as well as two vehicles and one pair of binoculars. The losses of the Peshmerga force consisted of one Martyr and four lightly wounded.
After this victory of the Peshmerga over the hired gunmen, specifically on the following day, i.e., May 19, 1969, the government, for revenge and to speak out about this Peshmerga attack, began a heavy shelling of the area, bombarding the villages surrounding the Qushtapa military base with more than 150 artillery shells. Also, four MiG aircraft bombarded the villages of Rasul Baskol, Bestana, and some places in the Erbil Plain blindly for two hours. The damage of this shelling and aircraft bombardment consisted of three Peshmerga being lightly wounded. On the same night, i.e., May 19 to 20, they began shelling the small Bestana military base and its surroundings.
References:
1- Ari Karim, Some Living Pages in the Aylul Revolution, Khabat Press, Duhok 1999.
2- Hawkar Karim Hama Sharif, Aylul Revolution, Salahaddin University Press, First Edition, Erbil, 2012.
3- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part One, Aylul Revolution 1961-1975, Ed: First 2004.
4- Said Kaka, Memoirs of a Peshmerga, Ministry of Culture Press, First Edition, 1997.
5- Khurshid Shira, Struggle and Blood, Memoirs of the Years of Peshmerga Struggle, Third Edition, Erbil, 2015.