UPDATED: Third Kurdish party member opposed to Tehran killed in Kurdistan

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – A Peshmerga and member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) was killed in the city of Soran on Friday, the third member of that party to be killed in a month.

PDKI member Amir Ahmedi, also known as Ahmed Irani, was killed on Friday morning, Mohammed Qadiri, a member of PDKI told Kurdistan 24.

“He was on a visit to Soran with his family,” Qadiri said.

Soran police spokesperson Hawar Argoshi later said in an afternoon press conference that Ahmedi was killed by his son as part of a social/family issue.

Soran is located on the eastern side of Erbil province, near the border with Iran.

Ahmedi is the third member of the PDKI to be killed in the Kurdistan Region this month after a bomb went off in Binaslawa, targeting one member, and another member assassinated in Sulaimani’s Rania city.

“The Iranian government has many policies against the PDKI because it has been the most active opposition group against Tehran,” Mustafa Hijri, the Secretary-General of the PDKI, told Kurdistan 24 on Friday, accusing Iran of orchestrating the killings.

Hijri claimed Tehran hopes to intimidate party members and deter them from being politically active and vocal, but asserted the PDKI would continue its struggle against the Iranian government.

There were no immediate comments by Iranian officials regarding Hijri’s accusations.

The party leader stated that security authorities in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region have been unable to identify the perpetrators behind each attack against the party’s members, calling for a serious investigation to be carried out.

Founded in 1945 by iconic Kurdish leader and President of the short-lived Kurdistan Republic of Mahabad, Qazi Muhammad, the PDKI, a secular and social democratic party, for decades has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy and rights in Iran.

The PDKI reignited a conflict with the Islamic Republic of Iran in June 2016, 20 years after their laying down their weapons in 1996 to not jeopardize Kurdish gains made in northern Iraq.

Editing by Nadia Riva