5 arrested for assassination of PDK commander: party

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Five people have been arrested in connection with the assassination of a commander of the Kurdistan Democratic Party-Iran earlier this month, the party reported.

The killing took place "at the order of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards," said the party, a Kurdish armed group opposed to the Iranian government.

Those arrested have confessed to their role in killing Qadir Qadiri, the PDK commander who was killed in a Kurdish village in Raniya of Sulaimani province, about 79 kilometers east of Erbil city on March 6.

"With the support and cooperation between the security agencies of the Southern [Iraqi] Kurdistan, and the intelligence agency of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, all the criminals of the terror [attack], who number five people, have been arrested," the party said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

No KRG security agency commented on the revelation made by the PDK, but a party official told Rudaw English that it is highly likely that the arrests were made by the Asayesh, Kurdish security.

Osman Faqe Malaki is the "mastermind," in the murder case, the PDK claimed, adding that they will try to release more details of the case in the future.

Qubad Talabani, deputy KRG prime minister, in March pledged his government would investigate the assassination.

"We as the Kurdistan Regional Government ensure you that we have assigned all security units to arrest the perpetrators as soon as possible and hand them to court so that they are legally prosecuted," he stated at the time.