Iran shells border areas in Kurdistan Region: Source

Iranian artillery shelled a border town in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil on Thursday, resulting in no civilian causalities, informed sources in the area told Kurdistan 24.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iranian artillery shelled a border town in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil on Thursday, resulting in no civilian causalities, informed sources in the area told Kurdistan 24.

The Iranian artilleries targeted the villages of Barbzin, Talan, Bin Rashkin, and Parez in the Bradost area, located in northern Erbil province, Ihsan Chalabi, the mayor of Sidakan town, told Kurdistan 24.

The bombardment came after Iranian drones flew over the area, Chalabi said. The incident occurred after a period of silence in the area.

The shelling did not cause any civilian causalities, but it did set fire to the forests and the lands of the villagers, Chalabi explained. The mayor noted that the targeted villages were empty as its residents are nomadic and are not currently residing in the area.

The Iranian attacks have taken a massive toll on the livelihoods of residents in the border areas who are mostly dependent on farming and livestock as their primary source of income.

Kurdistan Region authorities stated on more than one occasion that hundreds of residents from the border villages are displaced as a result of the military operations Turkey and Iran have launched that often result in civilian casualties and property damage.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has called on the Iranian government to put an end to indiscriminate shelling of areas near the Kurdish border in the past and asked Iranian Kurdish fighters to avoid using the region to attack its neighboring state.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany