ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday claimed it had targeted a major gathering center belonging to the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), as clashes continue between the guerrilla fighters of the group and the Guards.
Tensions between the IRGC and the Eastern Kurdistan Units (YRK), PJAK's armed wing, has intensified for more than a week, starting with Iran launching drones and particularly shelling the mountains in the west of the country, leading to clashes between the two sides.
“One of the group’s teams intended to carry out operational activities; the locations where the group were present were destroyed at the height of surprise” a pre-emptive operation, reported Mehr News Agency.
Mehr, without providing details of the location of the IRGC’s strikes or information of casualties, added, “the area where the operation took place is one of the strategic points of the group, where most important meetings and training programmes were held.”
Rudaw English has contacted the group’s officials for comment but has not received a response at the time of publication.
Prior to this claim, the (YRK) in an announcement on Wednesday, said that their forces had conducted an operation on one of IRGC’s military bases in response to Iran’s attacks in the Shaho Mountain range and Mariwan county in Kurdistan province, west of Iran, according to PJAK’s website carrying the statement.
The group took control of the Osman-Frishta military base for around two hours, destroying several heavy weapons such as machine guns and mortars and damaging several military vehicles, according to the Telegram channel, Ofogh Gerila, citing the locals of Degaga village in Kurdistan province, where the military base is located.
According to the channel, the group withdrew from the base and suffered no casualties.
The recent clashes and tensions are part of a broader set of challenges facing Iran, with Kurdish armed groups in the west, Baloch armed groups in the southeast, and a war with Israel and the United States that has continued for nearly eight months since February 28.
The simultaneous pressures are stretching Tehran’s security resources across multiple fronts, forcing it to contend with internal and border security threats while continuing to fight a major external conflict.
PJAK has had bloody clashes with the IRGC in the past and has clashed with the elite units of the guards. In the summer of 2011 a major war broke out between PJAK and the IRGC including its elite force Saberin in Qandil mountain during which a large number of the IRGC members were killed.
In July 2018, PJAK fighters attacked an IRGC base in Mariwan region killing at least 11 members and injuring eight others in the clash according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
Iran has faced clashes in the southeast province of Sistan-Baluchestan with Baloch armed groups targeting Iranian military and security forces.
During one of these attacks from the Baluch Armed Groups, an Iranian commander and a police officer were killed in two separate attacks on October 14 in after unidentified armed men opened fire.
