ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday that six members of a Kurdish opposition group were killed in clashes with security forces near Mahabad in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province.
The Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), one of the main Kurdish opposition groups, said on Saturday that its forces clashed with the IRGC in the Mahabad area on Friday, but did not provide further details.
“Following the entry of a team from hostile and separatist groups into the country’s northwestern borders to carry out sabotage and terrorist acts, fighters from the IRGC Ground Force’s Hamzeh Seyyed al-Shohada Headquarters tracked them through intelligence operations,” said semi-official Mehr News Agency.
The clashes come amid a spike in attacks targeting Iranian security forces in Kurdish areas. Two high-profile members of the IRGC-linked Basij were gunned down on Monday night in Paveh, Kermanshah province.
“The assailants were caught in an ambush by Hamzeh Headquarters forces and were completely dismantled,” the Guards said in a statement published by state media.
The IRGC said the clash took place in the mountains between Mahabad and Piranshahr, with artillery support, adding that the six-member team was “completely destroyed.” It said the bodies of four members of the group, along with weapons and equipment, were seized by IRGC forces.
State media published photos showing the bodies of three alleged Kurdish fighters dressed in traditional Kurdish baggy clothing, one of whom appeared to be a woman. The images also showed four firearms recovered from the scene, including three AK-47 rifles and one American-made M4 carbine.
PJAK has not confirmed whether any of its fighters were killed in the Mahabad clashes.
The group maintains dozens of mobile units in the rugged mountains of western Iran’s Kurdish areas, where fighters often move between remote positions to avoid direct clashes with the IRGC.
Other Kurdish opposition groups also maintain mobile units in the area.
The Paveh killings marked the third attack on Iranian security forces in the Kurdish region within a week, following separate incidents in Baneh, Kurdistan province, and Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, that left several security personnel dead or wounded.
