Tehran again carried out missile and drone strikes in northern Iraq on Tuesday (November 22nd), targeting the Iranian Kurdish opposition two days after similar bombardments against these groups accused of fomenting unrest in the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian power notably accuses these movements, which have long been in its sights, of encouraging the demonstrations which have shaken Iran since the death on September 16 of the young Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, after her arrest by the morality police.
“New series of attacks against terrorist groups”
Already on Sunday evening, missile fire and suicide drone strikes carried out by the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, targeted the bases of several Iranian opposition factions, killing one person.
On Tuesday, the ground forces of the Revolutionary Guards launched "
a new round of attacks against terrorist groups
" in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Iranian news agency Tasnim reported.
"
The headquarters of the separatist terrorist group Pak (Kurdistan Freedom Party) was targeted by missiles and kamikaze drones
," said the agency approved by the Tehran authorities.
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The Pak was targeted in the vicinity of Altun Kupri.
"
We had taken our precautions and emptied the premises, there were no casualties
," faction spokesman Khalil Nadri told AFP.
The surroundings of Altun Kupri are under the control of the Peshmerga, the military forces of the autonomous Kurdistan of Iraq, but this region constitutes one of the areas disputed with the federal power of Baghdad.
Established in Iraq since the 1980s, the Iranian Kurdish movements are qualified as “
terrorists
” by Iran, which accuses them of launching attacks on its territory.
However, after waging an armed insurgency for a long time, these groups - often politically far left - have virtually ceased their military activities, according to experts.
Political activism
Maintaining their political activism, they denounce the discrimination suffered by the Kurdish minority in Iran (about 10 million out of a population of 83 million), in particular the ban on teaching their language in schools.
But these groups still have in the north of Iraq fighters in fatigues, akin to "
reservists
" who train in the use of weapons.
"
Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran targeted Iranian opposition groups in two areas with rockets
," Kurdistan Autonomous Government spokesman Lawk Ghafuri tweeted, citing the city of Perdi ( Kurdish name of Altun Kupri) and the region of Degala, east of Erbil, regional capital of Kurdistan.
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In the past, senior Iranian officials had called on the authorities in Baghdad and those in Kurdistan to put an end to the activities of this opposition, accusing them of infiltrating Iran and attacking Iranian forces.
In Tehran on Monday, Foreign Affairs spokesman Nasser Kanani said his country wanted "
Iraqi territory not to be used to threaten Iran's security
".
“
We insisted with the Iraqi authorities and the Kurdistan region that this region should not be a place of transit for equipment and weapons to be used in disturbances
,” he insisted.
Operation “Sword Claw”
On November 14, similar Iranian bombings left one dead and eight injured in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Deadly strikes also took place on 28 September.
The Iranian bombardment comes as Turkey on Sunday launched Operation
Sword Claw
, a series of airstrikes against Kurdish positions in northern Iraq and Syria.
