Renewed clashes between Iran's IRGC and Kurdish fighters prove fatal
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — In northwestern Iran, the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) skirmished with a group of Kurdish fighters, resulting in fatalities and injuries on both sides.
“A team of forces which is against the Islamic Republic of Iran was destroyed in the Urmia province while trying to enter the Iranian territory,” Mohammed Pakpur, an infantry commander of the IRGC, also known as the Pasdaran, was quoted as saying by its Tasnim News.
The fighting occurred in Iran’s Western Azerbaijan Province in the area of Piranshahr around 11 on Saturday night. Piranshahr is less than 8 kilometers from the border with the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq.
The Pasdaran commander said they confronted an unnamed armed group, claiming to have killed two of them and arresting four injured members.
Iran has shelled areas inside the Kurdistan Region on several occasions on the pretext of the presence of armed Kurdish groups on its border.
The HDKA, also known as the PDKI, which is 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.
“A team of forces which is against the Islamic Republic of Iran was destroyed in the Urmia province while trying to enter the Iranian territory,” Mohammed Pakpur, an infantry commander of the IRGC, also known as the Pasdaran, was quoted as saying by its Tasnim News.
The fighting occurred in Iran’s Western Azerbaijan Province in the area of Piranshahr around 11 on Saturday night. Piranshahr is less than 8 kilometers from the border with the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq.
Rostam Jahangiri, head of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (HDKA) military commission, told Rudaw that their Peshmerga were ambushed by the Iranian forces and incurred damages.
The Pasdaran commander said they confronted an unnamed armed group, claiming to have killed two of them and arresting four injured members.
HDKA claimed killing five Iranian soldiers and wounding four more.
Iran has shelled areas inside the Kurdistan Region on several occasions on the pretext of the presence of armed Kurdish groups on its border.
The HDKA, also known as the PDKI, which is 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.