ERBIL – Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in Iran launched an offensive on headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) in Piranshahr city, northwest of the country on Saturday.
More than 30 pro-government IRGs were killed and dozens more were wounded when the Kurdish fighters attacked a major security centre in Piranshahr.
Speaking to ARA News, the member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iran (KDP-I), Sipan Majidi, said that the Peshmerga’s operation comes after the Iranian authorities arrested dozens of Kurdish activists in western Iran.
“The Peshmerga forces bombed a major security centre in Piranshahr on Saturday midnight, where a large number of Iranian Revolutionary Guards were stationed. The IRGs have been preparing to storm Kurdish towns and villages near Piranshahr,” the Kurdish official said.
“The Kurdish forces started the attack by bombarding the IRGs headquarters with dozens of mortar shells, killing more than 30 pro-regime revolutionary guards and wounding dozens more,” Majidi told ARA News.
The KDP-I is considered a political leadership for the Kurdish Peshmergas in Iran.
“We promise our people to continue the fight against the radical Iranian regime until regaining the legitimate rights of the Kurds and other minorities,” he said.
Iranian government forces have lately increased their military activities in the western part of the country, especially in Oshnawieh, Sardasht and Piranshahr.
“Tehran frequently puts pressure on political parties in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, asking them to put pressure on the Iranian Kurdish parties, amongst them our party, to bring an end to their political activities inside Iran,” Mouloud Swara, member of Central Committee and Representative of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP-I) in UK, told ARA News.
“We cannot bow for any pressure and our struggle will continue until our people enjoy the freedom and rights proclaimed in the International Human Rights declaration. With some 2,000 Peshmerga forces based in remote bordering areas, the KDP-I is historically considered to be the most formidable military organization opposing the Islamic Republic in Tehran,” Swara said.
Clashes between Iranian Kurdish groups and Iran’s IRGC erupted on June 15 and have continued ever since.
Ceng Sagnic, a researcher with the Tel Aviv-based Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, told ARA News that Iranian Kurds are trying to gain a new foothold.
“It [increase in clashes] is mostly because Iranian Kurdish parties are seeking for a renewed foothold in regional politics while Iran’s influence is growing rapidly,” Sagnic said.
Reporting by: Sozbin Cheleng
Source: ARA News