Iraqi Kurdistan
Peshmerga (meaning "those who face death" in Kurdish) fighters atop their mountain positions along the Shinirwe front line with Ansar al-Islam extremists. Ansar al-Islam is a group of Islamic extremists that control a mountainous enclave of Iraqi Kurdish territory along the Iranian border. They have carried out numerous attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan and an assassination attempt against the governor of the Sulaimaniya region. Mortars and gun fire are regularly exchanged with the Peshmerga who try to contain them...Halabja, Iraqi Kurdistan. 20/11/2002...Photo © J.B. Russell
