KALAR, Kurdistan Region – The Iranian Revolutionary Guards reported that three of their fighters were killed in armed clashes with a group of 21 “ISIS” militants who entered the country from the west on the borders with the Kurdistan Region. Kurdish security officials say that they are the same group who engaged in clashes against Kurdish forces in Halabja on Monday.
Iran’s security forces monitored and located the group in the western province of Kermanshah as they entered the country from the west, followed by clashes on Saturday morning, the Revolutionary Guard stated.
Mohammad Pakpur, the commander of the infantry forces of the Revolutionary Guards, told the state media that they captured 16 of the militants, and that two of them were “surrounded” by the security forces. The rest were killed, he claimed.
Earlier in the day, the Iranian force said in a statement that the “majority” of the militants who belong to “ISIS” were captured, but the fighting was still going on, the statement published Saturday afternoon added.
The commander said that the fighting took place in Bamo area, located on the border between Iran and the Kurdistan Region.
A source from the Kurdish security in Garmiyan told Rudaw Saturday that they are the same group who entered armed clashes with their forces in Bamo Mountain, Halabja on the border with Iran.
The group then crossed the border into Iran, the source said earlier in the day, adding that “based on our intelligence, six of the fighters have been killed [by Iranian security forces], eleven of them captured, and the fate of four of them are as of yet unknown.”
It is not clear whether the Iranian and Kurdish sides shared intelligence over the presence of the group on the border.
The Kurdish security on Tuesday said that group was suspected ISIS militants, saying that they took control of their hideout on the mountain.
After Mount Bamo was secured, “their depot was also located a BKC rifle, two Kalashnikov rifles, a sack of TNTs, 17 RPG bullets, many food substances and a box of bullets,” according to the Kurdish statement.
Bamo town, 195 kilometers southeast of the Kurdistan Region’s capital, is just west of the mountain range. It is within the Garmiyan bloc.
Mount Bamo is in the Hamrin mountain range and Kurdish officials have expressed concern about ISIS militants fleeing from places like liberated Mosul to Hamrin, as the rugged area provides many possible hideouts.
Garmiyan falls under the administration of Sulaimani province, Bamo however is now officially part of Halabja province.
