NICOSIA Ñ Iraq plans to recapture the Kurdish autonomous zone in the north of the country.

Kurdish as well as Iraqi government sources said President Saddam Hussein is preparing for an offensive to end Kurdish self-rule in the north.

They said Saddam has amassed up to 10,000 troops along the no-fly zone and near the town of Shihan.

The Iraqi plans have prompted alarm in both London and Washington. Kurdish groups have met British and U.S. officials to discuss the Iraqi threat.

The Saddam regime has acknowledged Baghdad's planned offensive. On Saturday, the "Iraq" daily said the Saddam regime will restore the Kurdish region to his control after a decade of autonomy. The newspaper said the autonomy undermines Iraqi sovereignty and will not last.

About five million Kurds are said to live in three northern provinces of Dhok, Irbil and Sulaimanya. Kurdish sources said Saddam has launched a policy of Arabization and his agents have acted against Kurdish separatists.

The Ankara-based Al Zaman daily said the United States plans to divide Iraq into three areas. The northern area would be reserved for Kurds. The southern area for Shi'ites and the central portion for Sunnis.

The newspaper said northern Iraq would be controlled by Kurdish leader Massoud Barazani with help from his longtime rival Jalal Talabani. U.S. and British officials are hoping to complete the plan within the next month, the daily said.

On Saturday, the Iraqi military announced that British and U.S. warplanes attacked facilities in southern Iraq. The attack was not immediately confirmed by either the British or U.S. militaries.

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