One IRGC guard and two armed group members killed in Mariwan clashes

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — At least one member of the  Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and two members of a Kurdish opposition group were killed in a Tuesday clash in western Iran, according to the Guards' affiliated media outlets and a Kurdish human rights organization.

The watchdog Hengaw says clashes erupted in areas between Rashadi and Doisa villages in Mariwan, Kurdistan province, on Tuesday between the IRGC and a Kurdish armed group.

IRGC-affiliated media outlet Tasnim News also reported the clash, saying Hamza Sayyid al-Shuhada Command of the IRGC claims it erupted at 14:40 on Tuesday between members of the IRGC, intelligence ministry agents, and an anti-revolutionary group.

Four of the eight members of the anti-revolutionary group that took part in the clash were wounded, according to Tasnim, which also reports several members being searched for by Iranian authorities. 

So far, no Kurdish opposition group has claimed responsibility for the clash, according to Hengaw.

The human rights group says, “after the clashes, the IRGC bombarded the area for several hours.”

A group of gunmen ambushed a senior IRGC commander in western Iran on May 5, killing him and two of his guards. The brazen attack was carried out in broad daylight in Divandareh, in the heart of Kurdistan province – one of the most heavily militarized areas in the country. 

In recent years the IRGC has taken increasingly proactive measures to smother clandestine Kurdish opposition groups by making thousands of kilometers of new dirt roads atop mountain peaks overlooking Kurdish areas, installing thousands of additional troops to seal off its porous western border with Iraq.