ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--Clashes were reported between Iranian Kurdish opposition fighters and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in villages of the predominantly Kurdish city of Shno that killed at least one security force member and wounded seven, a Kurdish official confirmed to Rudaw. Rostam Jahangiri from Iran’s Kurdistan Democratic Party told Rudaw that an unknown number of Iranian Kurdish opposition forces, based in the Kurdistan Region, were in Iran for political activities when they were surrounded by forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in the district around the city of Shno. “Clashes occurred between a team of our Peshmerga forces and Revolutionary Guard forces in the villages of Sargiz and Qarasaqal,” he said. “They were on duty for some special missions when first surrounded and became the target of security forces.” According to Jahangiri, the Kurdish fighters returned fire on Iran’s security forces, killing one and wounding seven. “They [Kurdish security forces] defended themselves,” Jahangiri explained. More Iranian security forces are reportedly coming from the Kurdish city of Piranshahr to be deployed in Shno, where the attack occurred. Iran’s Kurdish opposition has always had a tense relationship with the government in Tehran, but they had renounced violence and clashes had been rare until recently. Similar confrontations between the Iranian government and Kurdish rebels took place last month in the villages of Sardasht province.
