ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Five Peshmerga fighters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) were killed in an ambush by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the western border regions of Iran late Wednesday, as tensions continue to brew in the Kurdish areas with several clashes reported over the past week.
A senior source from the KDPI confirmed to Rudaw English that five peshmerga were killed in clashes in an area called Ghezqapan near Piranshahr city.
Iranian media reported heavy clashes in the Piranahsha and Sardasht areas between the IRGC’s Hamza Sayyid Al Shuhada forces and Kurdish fighters, but did not provide more details about casualties.
Since the outbreak of the war with US and Israel in late February, Iran has intensified attacks against the Kurdish groups in the country’s Kurdistan Region after reports emerged in the early days of the war that the Kurdish groups could stage a ground invasion of the Kurdish region in western Iran backed by the US.
The clashes come amid Iran's continued military campaign against Kurdish opposition groups in the country's western Kurdish regions, known as Rojhelat as well as drone and missile strikes on the groups in the Kurdistan Region.
The clashes took place late Wednesday in the border areas of Piranshahr and Sardasht in West Azerbaijan province, according to the Hengaw Organization, which reported two separate armed confrontations between an Iranian Kurdish opposition party and IRGC forces. Hengaw did not confirm how many Peshmerga fighters were killed, but added that "reports received by Hengaw indicate that there are casualties on both sides of the conflict."
"In a swift and surprise operation, a terrorist team belonging to separatist groups was dismantled in a village near Sardasht by the warriors of Islam. Preliminary reports indicate that a number of the group's members have been eliminated,” an IRGC affiliated outlet reported.
A senior source from KDPI identified five Peshmerga fighters killed. They were named as Abdollah Haji Abdollah, Fardin Changizi, Karo Hormozyari, Mohammad Khaki and Tawana Osmani.
Several members of IRGC and other security forces were all killed in clashes with PJAK following two members of IRGC Basij militia gunned down on Monday night in the town of Paveh in Kermanshah province by two assailants on a motorbike.
Late Wednesday, two drones targeted a KDPI base in the Degala sub-district in Erbil, though the strike caused no casualties or material damage.
