Kurdish guerrillas have moved into frontline positions abandoned by Iraqi troops in northern Iraq. The move comes shortly after hundreds of American troops parachuted into northern Iraq in what the Pentagon said was the start a northern front.
The Iraqi Government forces left positions west of the Kurdish-held town of Chamchamal, which defend approaches to the strategically important city of Kirkuk, not long after the arrival of US troops.

Kurdish guerrillas took over a ridge once manned by the Iraqi troops - but have so far not advanced further.
US Troop Movement

Correspondents say it is not clear whether the Iraqi troop movement was a collapse of the Iraqi line or a tactical retreat in order to better defend Kirkuk itself

However the main Kurdish faction controlling the area, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), said more than 80 Iraqi defectors had crossed to their side on Thursday.

US troops arrived early on Thursday morning at an airfield at Harir, 75 kilometers from the main Kurdish town of Irbil.

Reporters at the scene said the paratroopers were greeted by Kurdish guerrilla fighters, who had been expecting them, and they began digging in as soon as they arrived.

US Special Forces had been operating on the ground in advance of the mission, and Pentagon officials said tanks and other armoured vehicles would follow soon.

A key aim of the new northern front is to prevent the Iraqi military from being able to concentrate its defenses on US-led forces in the south of the country.

However correspondents say the first major ground action may be directed not against Iraqi troops but against the radical Ansar al-Islam faction, alleged by the US to have links to al-Qaeda, which controls some mountain territory close to the Iranian border.

PHOTO CAPTION

The Iraqi Government forces left positions west of the Kurdish-held town of Chamchamal, which defend approaches to the strategically important city of Kirkuk, not long after the arrival of US troops.