Three Iranian Kurdish party members killed in strikes on Kurdistan Region: IRGC

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Saturday it targeted a position of a Kurdish Iranian opposition group northwest of Erbil province, killing three people and wounding five others, as the Kurdistan Region continues to face attacks from Tehran and its allied groups despite an ongoing ceasefire with the United States.

The IRGC’s Hamzeh Seyyid al-Shuhada Base, responsible for security in northwestern Iran, said the strikes hit the “Jezhnikan and Balisan area” in Erbil province, killing three people and “severely” wounding five others, describing them as members of the Kurdish Iranian opposition “Democrat” group.

During the US-Israeli war on Iran that began on February 28, Tehran and its allied Iraqi armed groups targeted US interests as well as positions of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups and their dependents within the Kurdistan Region. Despite a two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran announced last week, the Region has continued to face repeated attacks.

The IRGC also accused those targeted of being “among the main perpetrators behind the assassination” of a police member, Mehdi Salmasi, in Piranshahr county in 2017, adding, “Identifying the remaining killers is on the agenda.”

On Friday, a missile strike targeted the headquarters of the Kurdish Iranian opposition Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) in Erbil’s northeastern Khalifan subdistrict, killing two female Peshmerga fighters and injuring another, senior party member Kawa Bahrami told Rudaw. A drone strike on Jezhnikan camp near Erbil’s Bahrka district also wounded a Peshmerga fighter and killed his son.

The camp hosts families of members of several Kurdish opposition parties.

The Kurdistan Region hosts multiple Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, which Tehran labels as “terrorist” or “separatist” organizations, and has repeatedly targeted them with cross-border drone, missile, and artillery strikes.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said in a Saturday post on X, “We strongly condemn the ongoing drone attacks against the Kurdistan Region over the last several days. Although we have not been part of the conflict, we continue to come under attack.”

On the same day, the recently formed Alliance of Iranian Kurdistan Political Parties condemned the United Nations for its “silence” over Iran’s continued attacks on their bases in the Kurdistan Region.

The alliance also called on Baghdad to take “serious positions and practical, legal, and transparent measures to protect the lives of political refugees and prevent the recurrence of such crimes.”

Tehran’s concerns intensified following the 2022 “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, which began as a call for women’s rights and later evolved into nationwide anti-government protests. Hundreds were killed and thousands arrested during the unrest.

Iran has accused these groups of fueling and expanding the protests, leading to a security agreement with the Iraqi government in September 2023 aimed at disarming and relocating them. Although they have been moved away from border areas and placed in six camps across the Kurdistan Region, Iran has continued to strike their positions, describing the attacks as preemptive.