Two IRGC militiamen killed in clash with Kurdish group in western Iran

16-07-2020
Zhelwan Z. Wali
Zhelwan Z. Wali @ZhelwanWali
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says two members from one of their forces were killed Wednesday evening in an attack in western Iran’s Hawraman region.

The Hamza Sayyid al-Shuhada command center of the IRGC, responsible for parts of Iran’s Kurdish areas, said in a statement that, “on the evening of Wednesday near the village of Belbar in Hawraman region of Sarvabad a member of the Mobilisation Resistance Force [Basij] alongside an employee of the municipality” …were targeted by agents of a “terrorist” group. Both men were killed and another individual was wounded, reports the security apparatus, which later clarified that both men were Basijis, or members of a paramilitary force affiliated with the IRGC. 

A Kurdish organization says that the basijis were killed in a clash between the IRGC and members of a Kurdish armed opposition group. 

No Kurdish group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The IRGC has taken an increasingly offensive stance toward Kurdish guerrilla groups by installing thousands of additional troops to seal off its porous western border with Iraq, and digging thousands of kilometers of new dirt roads atop mountain peaks overlooking Kurdish areas. 
In response to the increased presence, militants have stepped up attacks against Iranian security forces. A group of gunmen ambushed a senior IRGC commander in western Iran on May 5, killing him and two of his guards. The brazen attack was carried out in broad daylight in Divandareh, in the heart of Kurdistan province – one of the most heavily militarized areas in the country. 

The IRGC has in recent times attacked and threatened to attack Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

A few days after the IRGC launched airstrikes against targets the Haji Omaran area of the Kurdistan Region, which borders Iran late last month, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, the top ground force commander of Iran, announced the commencement of a drill in Iran’s Kurdistan province.








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