Kurdish party reports resumed clashes with Iranian forces

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Armed clashes resumed on Wednesday between fighters of a Kurdish party from Iran and government forces in two areas in northwestern Iran, with casualties reported among Iranian security forces. 

The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (HDKA) announced a number of what they called urban Peshmerga of the party had attacked an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base in the village of Singani in Shno district.

HDKA stated its Peshmerga were also engaged in armed clashes with the Iranian army in the area of Piranshahr, killing two members of the army.

The reported confrontation occurred in mountainous areas behind the village of Tirkashi. 

Piranshahr is less than 8 kilometers from the border with the Kurdistan Region.

Shno is about 40 kilometers north of Piranshahr with both being in the province of West Azerbaijan.

Iranian state-run or associated media has not yet confirmed the occurrence of the renewed confrontations, which are at least the second such clashes in a week.

Earlier this week a group of HDKA forces were ambushed by IRGC in Piranshar, Rostam Jahangiri, the head of the HDKA military commission, told Rudaw.

The HDKA later confirmed the deaths of two Peshmerga in the fight and claimed killing five Iranian soldiers and wounding four more.

An Iranian commander had said they confronted an unnamed armed group, claiming to have killed two of them and arrested four injured members.

The HDKA, also known as the PDKI and considered Iran’s main armed Kurdish party, said in 2015 that it was giving up a two-decade ceasefire with the Iranian government and returning its guerrilla fighters to Iran, but that it would not initiate hostilities unless attacked.

Iran has shelled areas inside the Kurdistan Region on several occasions on the pretext of the presence of armed Kurdish groups on its border.