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Barzani denies presence of Israelis in Iraqi Kurdistan

ARBIL, Iraq, Dec 4 (AFP) - Massud Barzani, president of Iraqi Kurdistan, on Sunday denied reports that Israeli military instructors were training Kurdish forces in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.

"These reports are totally false," he told reporters during a joint press conference in Arbil with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a fellow Kurd.

The Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot reported on Thursday that dozens of Israelis had been sent by security companies to train Kurds at a secret military base.

These companies have even built an airport, called Hawler, near Arbil, according to the newspaper, which published a picture showing a building carrying the sign "Hawler International Airport" in English and Kurdish.

"The peshmergas (Kurdish fighters) do not need anyone to train them," insisted Barzani, whose forces fought a guerrilla war against Saddam Hussein's troops for decades.

"The Arbil airport is open and aircraft from many countries land there," he added.

The Israelis entered Iraq, which under Saddam was a sworn enemy of the Jewish state, through its northern border with Turkey posing as construction engineers and agricultural experts, according to the Yediot report.