§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What reply they have received to their request that Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, should release the 40 hostages from the al-Sourchi tribe, originally detained on 16th June; when Mr. Frank Baker from the British Embassy in Ankara will visit the village of Kilken; what reports they have received from United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross or non-governmental organisations personnel on the killing of members of the al-Sourchi tribe; and whether they consider that the perpetrators of these crimes are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and would be liable to prosecution in the courts of other states.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyThe KDP have told us that they have released 42 of the 61 armed men they detained from Kilken and that they will release the rest after inquiries; we continue to urge them to do so.
For obvious security reasons, it would not be appropriate for us to publish details in advance of visits by officials to northern Iraq.
We have received no reports from the UN, ICRC or NGOs about the incident.
Although we are deeply concerned about the incident, we do not have sufficient information to classify it in either of the ways suggested.