Shakhulan is a village located in northern Erbil, 25 km from the center of the Branti plain, and most of its inhabitants work in agriculture and livestock breeding. Since the beginning of the Aylul Revolution, the villagers were important supporters of the revolution. They served the Peshmerga in all good and bad times, and the village became a refuge for the Peshmerga, and they did not hesitate to express their respect and love for the Peshmerga.
The village of Shakhulan recorded a great historical epic during the Aylul Revolution at the hands of two Peshmerga (Khalil and Sayyid Fathi) against hundreds of army forces and agents (Jash).
The incident occurred in late February 1969 when two Peshmerga were guests in the village on a mission for the revolution. At that time, a large force of the army and agents (Jash) was participating in a military maneuver near Bastura, passing through the village of Shakhulan towards Efraz. Apparently, a 5-6 year old girl escaped and saw the force, and returned to her house quickly to warn the Peshmerga about the government force. At this moment, they thought about moving from the house they were staying in to another house so as not to be discovered, but in the meantime, the gunmen saw them and fired at them.
Fighting broke out and government forces surrounded the village. But they did not dare to approach the Peshmerga's positions, so one of the agents (Jash) went to the village mosque and saw about twenty young men gathered in the faqih's room reading books. The agent (Jash) said with great arrogance to the Mullah and the faqih: Here you are gathered. Then he asked them why two Peshmerga were here and why they allowed such people to come to their village. Then he left the mosque in anger and headed to the Peshmerga to fight them, but this agent (Jash) was killed with the first bullet fired.
The fighting intensified little by little, and the soldiers and agents (Jash) surrounded the village and the house where the Peshmerga were stationed, and the Peshmerga promised not to surrender but to fight until the last breath. The government forces, with all their military capabilities, weapons, and ammunition, could not overcome the Peshmerga and approach them, so they were thinking of burning the house where the Peshmerga were staying. As a reaction, they arrested a large number of young men and held them until morning outside the village in the winter cold, and they were guarded by several soldiers and agents (Jash) with one tank.
Government forces stood around the village with tanks and artillery that night until morning, and repeatedly asked them to surrender, but the Peshmerga did not yield to the demands of the soldiers and agents (Jash). Instead, they reaffirmed their decision to fight under the title of survival or annihilation. The next day, a large military force with tanks, artillery, armored vehicles, and aircraft arrived from Erbil to support the first force, and the attack on the Peshmerga continued. A number of village houses were burned and destroyed as a result of the shelling and government attacks. The Peshmerga forces continued their defense until noon, and Sayyid Fathi was martyred, then Khalil came out amidst the smoke and dust of the tanks and the collapse of trees and walls in the house and faced the cannons and was martyred.
Thus, after two days of battles between the army and a large number of agents (Jash) and full combat capabilities of tanks, artillery, armored vehicles, and aircraft against two Peshmerga, the fighting ended with their martyrdom. Several houses in the village were damaged, and shepherds, sheep, and livestock of the village were hit by artillery shelling, resulting in the injury of a female citizen and a woman. A number of dead and wounded fell among the government forces to be evacuated by helicopters.
As a result, the revolution began to strike the agents (Jash) severely. Faris Bawa, commander of the Erbil Plain forces, formed a force and sent it to the Qushtapa district to attack the agents (Jash) and carry out several activities of the Peshmerga forces. This was to show the people of Erbil that the Peshmerga forces are strong and continue their activity. In addition, the revolution leadership was able to make more room for the Peshmerga forces to attack sensitive and important government sites such as the Baba Gurgur oil field, in order to prove the strength of the revolution to the government that it is capable of reaching the depth of Iraqi areas and attacking its interests.
Sources:1- Ari Karim, Several living pages in Aylul Revolution Duhok, Khabat Press, 1999.
2- Sayyid Kaka, Memoirs of a Peshmerga, Ministry of Culture Press, first edition, 1997.
3- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part One, Aylul Revolution 1961-1975, First Edition 2004.
4- Khurshid Shira, Struggle and Blood, Memoirs of the Years of Peshmerga Struggle, Third Edition, Erbil, 2015.
5- Karwan Jawhar Muhammad, Idris Barzani 1944-1987 Life and Political and Military Role in the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Hevi Press, Erbil, 2019.