Fighting Reported Near Kurdish Safe Zone

Iraqi helicopter gunships attacked rebel positions on the edge of the Kurdish zone in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing two guerrillas and wounding several others, a Kurdish faction said.

The reported attack appeared to be an escalation in the conflict between Saddam Hussein’s weakened military and Kurdish fighters.

Also Wednesday, a clandestine Shiite Muslim radio station reported that a senior Iraqi officer had defected to the opposition.

Iraq has confirmed fighting at the southern edge of the Kurdish “safe haven” set up by the United States and its allies after the 1991 Gulf War.