ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) clashed again with Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the Mahabad mountains in the Kurdish region of northern Iran. At least one Peshmerga was killed on Saturday. Clashes occurred in Bengowen village in Mahabad on Friday, a source within the KDPI told Rudaw. The Peshmerga had no casualties but they claimed to have killed, injured and captured an unspecified number of Revolutionary Guards. The IRGC public relations department confirmed the clashes but did not give any information on casualties. “A number of terrorists of the Democratic Grouplet [KDPI] who were in Bengovin village near Mahabad city to conduct terrorist activities were identified by IRGC forces and they were, hence, engaged in clashes,” the Iranian Fars News Agency reported an IRGC member in Mahabad saying on Saturday. The KDPI council issued a statement on Saturday accusing the Iranian forces of threatening the residents of Mahabad and telling them to leave the area before the forces began shelling. The council reported that Peshmerga were resting in the villages of Landi Shekhan, Bagrdan, Hassan Chap, Du Choman and Bengowen, when the Iranian forces launched a surprise attack. The Peshmerga fought back and had no casualties though the KDPI said an unconfirmed number of Iranian forces were killed or injured. Further clashes took place on Saturday in the Kurdish town of Mariwan where one Peshmerga was martyred. He has been identified on social media as Shoresh Minbari. Iran has recently increased its military activity in the border areas of eastern Kurdistan, especially in Shno and Piranshar. The KDPI has accused the Iranian military of forcing Kurdish civilians living in the areas to work for them. “Iran, on all the borders, started movements and building new fortresses, deployed many forces and forced the Kurdish people to become spies and agents for them and carry weapons on the side of Iran,” Rahim Manguri, commander of the KDPI forces told Rudaw on June 20. Iran frequently puts pressure on political parties in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq to use their influence with the Iranian Kurdish forces to bring an end to their military activities inside Iran. With some 2,000 Peshmerga forces based in remote bordering areas, the KDPI is historically considered the most formidable military organization opposing the Islamic Republic in Tehran. In May 2015, the KDPI deployed its Peshmerga forces to the border between the Kurdish regions of Iraq and Iran. The KDPI was founded by the president of the first Kurdish republic in Mahabad, Qazi Muhammed, in 1945. The current leader of the party is Mustafa Hijri and its headquarters are based in Iraqi Kurdistan. Following the establishment of the Islamic republic in 1979, the KDPI and other secular political organizations opposed the republic and a war between the Kurdish movement and the Iranian regime lasted until the mid-1990s.
