Politics

Missiles that struck Kurdish opposition parties launched from Iran: KDP-I official

Iran’s military did not mention the location of the launch. But locals in the town of Azarshahr posted videos on social media showing the rockets being launched.

Kosar Nawzad 2018/09/09 14:39

middle east Kurdistan Iran Koya IRGC

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A member of an Iranian Kurdish party on Sunday said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched the missiles that struck the bases of the regime’s opposition groups from Iran.

On Saturday morning, Iranian rockets targeted the headquarters of two Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, the Kurdistan Democratic Party – Iran (KDP-I) and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), as well as an Iranian Kurdish refugee camp in the Kurdistan Region’s Koya town.

A senior member of the KDP-I, Hassan Jazaeer-Chi, citing sources who had seen the missiles as they flew across the border into the Kurdistan Region, told Kurdistan 24 the rockets were launched from within the region’s eastern neighbor.

The interview with the KDP-I official came amid rumors of Iran having launched the missiles from sites within Iraq or the Kurdistan Region which multiple intelligence sources had previously informed Reuters.

“They came from across the border,” Jazaeer-Chi said. “They could not have come from Sulaimani or Kirkuk as the people at the border would not have been able to see them.”

“Two of the missiles struck the [KDP-I] headquarters, two others landed next to the camps which are next to the [local] school,” he revealed, adding that one of them had hit near the PDKI headquarters.

Earlier, the regime’s semi-official outlet, Tasnim, quoted the IRGC as saying that “seven short-range surface-to-surface missiles” were fired at the headquarters of the two parties from a 220-kilometer distance. They also claimed they had used Fateh-110 missiles for the attack, adding that drones were used to monitor the entire process in Koya.

Iran’s military did not mention the location of the launch. But locals in the town of Azarshahr — the distance between the center of which Koya is nearly 220 kilometers — from the country’s East Azerbaijan Province posted videos on social media showing the rockets being launched.

IRGC missiles that hit @PDKIenglish & @KDP1945 bases appear to be from around Azarshahr in east Azerbijan #Iran. Two posts on Tabriz and Azarshahr telegram channels indicate the missiles originated from there. Timing on telegram posts corresponds with the timing of impact in Koya pic.twitter.com/KHpArAi9iR
— Fazel Hawramy (@FazelHawramy) September 9, 2018

Giving the latest data on the number of casualties from both sides, Jazaeer-Chi told Kurdistan 24 that so far, 15 members of their party and three from the PDKI had lost their lives in the attack.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

(Additional reporting by Wladimir Van Wilgenburg)

The aftermath of an Iranian missile attack on the headquarters of an Iranian Kurdish party in Koya, 100 kilometers east of the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil, Sept. 8, 2018. (Photo: Wladimir Van Wilgenburg)

A Peshmerga fighter examines the scene of an Iranian missile attack on the headquarters of an Iranian Kurdish party in Koya, 100 kilometers east of the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil, Sept. 8, 2018. (Photo: Wladimir Van Wilgenburg)

A Peshmerga fighter at the scene of an Iranian missile attack on the headquarters of an Iranian Kurdish party in Koya, 100 kilometers east of the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil, Sept. 8, 2018. (Photo: Wladimir Van Wilgenburg)

The Iranian missile attack on the headquarters of an Iranian Kurdish party in Koya, 100 kilometers east of the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil, left 14 dead, and 40 wounded, Sept. 8, 2018. (Photo: Wladimir Van Wilgenburg)