Iran appears to be attacking Kurdish bases in northern Iraq

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Iranian forces during an exercise on September 9 near the city of Isfahan

Photo: IMAGO/Iranian Army Office/ IMAGO/ZUMA Wire

According to their own statements, the Iranian armed forces have attacked bases of Kurdish separatist groups in neighboring northern Iraq.

The attacks by the Revolutionary Guards on Saturday were justified as a "legitimate reaction" to previous attacks by Kurdish groups on Iranian military bases in the border area, the Tasnim news agency reports.

Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Wahidi had previously accused some Kurdish groups of being involved in the anti-government protests in Iran in recent days.

Allegedly, according to the government, there were also Kurdish arms deliveries to Iranian demonstrators in the Kurdish areas.

The anti-government protests in Iran were triggered by the death of 22-year-old Iranian Mahsa Amini in police custody last week.

Since Amini had Kurdish roots and lived with her family in the province of Kurdistan, there were violent protests and clashes with the police, especially in a number of Kurdish cities.

Iran's Interior Ministry has repeatedly denied speculation about police brutality in the Amini case, claiming that the young woman died of heart failure at the police station.

So far, however, this version has not been able to convince the critics.

According to her, after her arrest by the vice squad, Amini was hit on the head and died of a brain hemorrhage.

The young woman was arrested because she had not worn her headscarf according to strict regulations and a few strands of hair were showing.

ktz/dpa