ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An explosive-laden drone struck a base belonging to the Iranian Kurdish opposition group Komala of Revolutionary Toilers of Iranian Kurdistan (Komala) in the Kurdistan Region's Erbil province late Saturday, causing material damage but no casualties, the group said, blaming Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Komala said in a statement that one of its bases in the Alana Valley of the Balisan area, approximately 90 kilometers northeast of Erbil, was targeted by a Shahed explosive-laden drone at around 10 pm.
“In continuation of...attacks carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic, one of Komala's bases in the Alana Valley of the Balisan area was targeted by a Shahed explosive-laden drone,” the group said.
The party added that the strike caused material damage but no casualties, confirming that its Peshmerga fighters in the area were safe.
The strike is the latest in a series of Iranian drone and missile attacks targeting Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region, despite a security agreement between Baghdad and Tehran aimed at addressing Iran's concerns over their presence near the border.
On Wednesday, at least two projectiles launched from Iran hit positions belonging to the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) in the Balisan Valley. PAK spokesperson Rebaz Sharifi told Rudaw English that the strikes caused no casualties, while a security source said two Iranian Hadid-110 attack drones had targeted the positions.
Last week, two Iranian drones struck a base belonging to another Komala faction in Balisan, damaging buildings and a guard post without causing casualties, according to a party official and a security source.
Iran has repeatedly targeted Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region since the outbreak of the US-Israeli war against Tehran on February 28, accusing the groups of threatening its national security.
The latest attacks come amid renewed tensions over the future of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in Iraq. Last Tuesday, Iran's ambassador to Baghdad claimed that Iraqi and Iranian authorities had agreed to expel the groups from the Kurdistan Region or hand them over to Tehran following a joint security meeting.
However, an Iraqi official who attended the meeting denied that such an agreement had been reached. Representatives of several Iranian Kurdish opposition parties also told Rudaw that neither Baghdad nor Erbil had notified them of any decision requiring them to leave.
Iraq and Iran signed a security agreement in March 2023 requiring Baghdad to disarm Iranian Kurdish opposition groups and relocate them away from the shared border. Despite the agreement, Tehran has continued to strike their positions in the Kurdistan Region.
Iran and pro-Iran groups have targeted the Kurdistan Region with over 1,000 drones and missiles since the start of the regional war.
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