PJAK kills IRGC member in Kurdistan province

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least one soldier of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed this week in a clash with the opposition Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) in northwestern Iran. 

The clash took place in a mountainous area of Kurdistan province, between the towns of Kamyaran and A. Fighting broke out when PJAK members were passing through the area and were “surrounded and ambushed” by Iranian forces, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported on Thursday.  

The IRGC member who was killed has been identified as Mohammed Ahmadpour.

“Ahmadpour of the security forces sacrificed his life for the revolution in the conflict with the miscreants and anti-revolutionary group of PJAK to defend the security in the public area,” said the semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC. 

Two other IRGC members were injured in the skirmish, according to Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.  

PJAK was established in 2003 and is considered the Iranian wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), but claims its links are only ideological. Both groups have bases in the Kurdistan Region from where they carry out attacks on Turkish and Iranian security forces.

After its establishment in the Qandil Mountains - an area on the Kurdistan Region’s border with Iran where the PKK is also headquartered - PJAK expanded its operations into the Kurdish areas of western Iran, recruiting hundreds of young men and fighting bloody battles with the IRGC.

There are several Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region. Last month, a commander from another of the groups, Komala, was killed in a clash with Iranian forces.

Tehran considers these groups as terrorist organizations and has frequently carried out cross-border air and ground operations to target them. Last year, Iran and Iraq signed a pact to secure the border and disarm the opposition groups.