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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Five Kurdish opposition fighters were killed and three others injured in Western Iran’s Kurdistan Province, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) affiliated media reported on Wednesday.
FarsNews stated that the fighters were attempting to infiltrate and sabotage the electoral process in Baneh and Sarvabad when they were killed by Kurdish forces within the IRGC who carried out two special operations in the towns.
Farsnews did not specify when the operation took place.
In addition, the report mentioned that three fighters were injured and a "significant" amount of weapons, ammunition, and equipment was seized.
Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported last Wednesday that several people had been killed as a result of shelling by the IRGC’s special Saberin unit in villages of Sarvabad on June 15.
KHRN founder Rebin Rahmani confirmed to Rudaw English on Wednesday that four members of Kurdish forces were killed in the bombardment, however the Special Forces that carried out the attack were not Kurdish.
“Saberin Unit or Saberin Takavar Brigade is an elite Iranian special force functioning under the IRGC. This unit takes part in both domestic and overseas operations of the Iranian Armed Forces,” according to KHRN.
Kurdish and Iranian forces occasionally engage in armed conflict. Two Peshmerga from the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) were killed in a clash with the IRGC in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province in May.
There have been five confrontations between Kurdish and Iranian forces over the first five months of 2021, according to data provided to Rudaw English by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights director Arsalan Yarahmedi back in May.
Four members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), four KDPI Peshmerga, and eight IRGC soldiers were slain in the fighting. Three Iranian intelligence soldiers were also killed.
Earlier in May, the KDPI confirmed the killing of two of its Peshmerga fighters in a clash with the IRGC in Mahabad.
Eleven members of Kurdish forces were killed in 23 battles with Iranian forces in 2020, according to Hengaw’s annual report.
The IRGC is known for torture and harsh treatment in its prison wards, usually holding political prisoners.
At least 2,000 people were arrested in Iran in 2019 for joining armed Kurdish groups or for activism deemed suspicious, according to data provided to Rudaw English by Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) founder Rebin Rahmani earlier this year.
At least 400 people were arrested in 2020, Rahmani said.
In March, Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) released the identities of two of its fighters killed in Penjwin on the Iran-Iraq border in February.
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