Kurdish group claims it killed three members of Iran's military

Fighters from an armed Iranian Kurdish (Rojhilati) group clashed with members of Iran's military in Kermanshah (Kermashan) Province on Friday, killing three and losing two of their own.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Fighters from an armed Iranian Kurdish (Rojhilati)  group clashed with members of Iran's military in Kermanshah (Kermashan) Province on Friday, killing three and losing two of their own.

The skirmish broke out near the Shaho mountain range near Paveh County, a source from the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) told Kurdistan 24. The party is an armed opposition group that opposes Tehran's policies toward the nation's Kurdish population and is known to operate in the area.

"At least 3 #IRGC terrorists were killed & several others were injured in a clash with #Kurdistan’s #Peshmerga Forces that lasted for 3 hours in the Kermanshan Province," read a PDKI statement released later in the day. "Unfortunately 2 Peshmergas by the names of Zaniar and Shaho were martyred."

According to Kurdish rights group Hengaw, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) began bombarding nearby mountain ranges, suspecting the Peshmerga were using the area as a hideout.

 

The group added that the IRGC has begun to monitor and control the movement of citizens around Paveh County.

During the clash, Iranian troops reportedly shot and killed a farmer from the town of Paveh named Farshad Chechani. Hengaw claimed Chechani's brother was later summoned to the local office of the Ministry of Intelligence (Ettela'at) and ordered to say that the PDKI Peshmerga killed his sibling.

On Monday night, an unidentified armed group battled Iranian border guards near the boundary of the Kurdistan Region, killing one of them. A source close to the army claimed the perpetrators were part of an Iranian opposition group, but did not specify which.

"Marivan Border Guards Regiment engaged in combat with a number of armed [fighters] that meant to enter and commit subversive actions in the country," Kiumerth Sheikhi, military commander at the western frontier of Iran's Kurdistan Province, told semi-official media outlet Tasnim, known to have close ties with the military.

During the exchange, which broke out near the Dara-Nakh village in Marivan (Mariwan) County, two members of the armed group were reported injured in addition to the death of the border guard, according to state-owned IRNA media agency.

Editing by John J. Catherine