IRAQ. Autonomous Region in Northern Iraq controlled by Kurdish parties.PUK territory. March, 2003. PUK Peshmerga at the frontline with Ansar-al Islam controlled territory near Halabja. ( City where Saddam HUSSEIN's army gased thousands of civilians durinng the Anfal campaign at the ed of the 1980s). PUK Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is in a standoff with the Islamist group which controlls several villages and has alleged al-Qaeda ties.