The Batufa area was one of the places that, from the very beginning of the revolution's emergence, came under the attacks of the Iraqi Army. The Iraqi Army's attacks on that area began in the month of May 1962, with a large number of soldiers and Jash supported by tanks, artillery, armored vehicles, and air power under the command of Colonel Majid al-Saba'awi, who was the Commander of the government forces in Badinan. This government attack was set in motion from Zakho on 21 May with the intention of seizing the headquarters of the First Force in the Barwari region. This was at a time when a large geographical area of Badinan had fallen under the control of the revolution, and Barzani, the leader of the revolution, had set off towards the Soran region to spread the revolution to all other areas. The Kurdistan Peshmerga force, which was organized in groups and units during that period, with light weapons, which from the beginning of the revolution consisted of British Lee-Enfield rifles, resisted the giant and heavily armed Iraqi Army. The Zakho area was managed by Force Commander Isa Suwar and his assistant Ali Halo Ali Muhammad .
Those attacks and raids by the Iraqi Army lasted for 45 days, with attack following attack, but it could not push its forces off the main Zakho-Batufa road to the surrounding villages. In the heat of the days of fighting, a soldier with a mortar (knot 3) joined the ranks of the revolution, changed the direction of his mortar tube, turned it towards the Iraqi Army, and began shelling them. The balance of the battle changed directly, and it even had an effect on the planes when they were transporting their soldiers to the battle fronts; it shelled the landing sites of the planes. This made it so they could not easily perform that task, which was the landing of military forces.
In that battle, the Iraqi Army launched more than ten attacks on the villages of Kalkhwar, Dahli, and Khizaw, but could not reach them, so it began shelling them heavily. As a result of that shelling, the villagers suffered great damage in the destruction and burning of their houses and the evacuation of the villages to protect their lives. Also, the hired gunmen (Jash) attacked the village of Beghabari; although the village had been evacuated, the Peshmerga force did not let them reach it and defeated their attack, although two houses in the village were burned by the hired gunmen.
When the army's attack reached the village of Ava Ganini near Batufa, the Peshmerga force under the command of Isa Suwar pledged that they would not let them achieve their goals under any circumstances. Although the government forces reached the Batufa military base, the Peshmerga did not let them advance further. They tried hard to push them away, but they could not and were forced to lay a siege on them. After the government forces tried hard to break the siege and implement their plan, their efforts were in vain. The fighting between them continued, and in the end, the Commander of the government forces, Colonel Majid al-Saba'awi, was killed along with a number of soldiers. After the killing of their commander and the government forces remaining in the area for 21 days, the Peshmerga allowed them to return towards Zakho. After the retreat of the government forces, the threat to the headquarters of the First Force of Zakho dissipated.
In that attack by the Iraqi Army, which lasted for 45 days, it suffered heavy losses, which were estimated at 200 killed and wounded, among whom were Majid al-Saba'awi and several other officers. Also, a number of military vehicles were destroyed and a plane was shot down near the village of Avaganini. The Peshmerga's loss after the end of the battle was the Martyrdom of 5 Peshmerga, as well as the Martyrdom of two citizens who were in the national defense force and were supporting the Peshmerga.
Sources:1- Ari Karim، Several living pages in Aylul Revolution, Khabat Press, Duhok 1999.
2- Masoud Barzani، Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part One, Aylul Revolution 1961-1975, Ed: First 2004.
3- Hozhin Masoud Sarni, The Aylul Revolution in the Behdinan Region 1061- 1975, First Edition, 2018.
4- Haji Mirxan Dolamari, Searching for Justice, Volume One, Second Edition, Isra Press, Tehran, 2021.
5- Shawkat Mullah Ismail Hassan, Days in the History of the Aylul Revolution, First Edition, Erbil, 2007.