President Saddam Hussein has sent 870 copies of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, to the Kurds who control northern Iraq in defiance of Baghdad, an official newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Al-Iraq said 10 Korans were offered to each mosque in the Kurdish-held region. The books had been gifts to the Iraqi leader.
In another gesture for the Muslim holidays of Eid al-Fitr, which follow the fasting month of Ramadan, Saddam has distributed 1,000 of the holy books to 100 mosques of Baghdad.
Iraqi Kurdistan, home to around three million people, has been under the control of Kurdish factions since Iraq's defeat in the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait -- BAGHDAD (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
