PDKI Peshmerga claim death of four Iranian border guards, injure three more

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdish Peshmerga fighters from Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhilat) claimed to have killed four Iranian border guards and injured three more in an ambush on Thursday night.

Clashes broke out on the Barde Bouk road near Abulhassan village in the vicinity of the predominantly Kurdish city of Baneh (Bana), some 500 km (310 miles) west of Tehran.

The attack took place as a pickup truck carrying Iranian border guards and border gate officials passed through the area. Kurdish fighters ambushed the convoy and opened fire, according to the statement released by the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) on Friday.

Casualty numbers released by Iranian news agencies, however, differed.

Bana Governor, Mohammed Fallahi, told Tasnim news agency stated only four border guards and security members were injured in the attack by “anti-Revolution terrorist groups.”

The injured security members are not in a critical state and are recovering from their wounds, according to Fallahi.

The PDKI, a Kurdish opposition group from Rojhilat, reignited a conflict with the Islamic Republic of Iran in June 2016, 20 years after laying down their weapons in 1996 to prevent jeopardizing Kurdish gains made in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

The group seeks to achieve Kurdish rights and autonomy in Rojhilat within a federal system in Iran.

The PDKI, along with other Kurdish opposition groups, resumed their armed struggle against the Iranian government and have since launched multiple attacks on Iranian authorities over the past few months.

Editing by Nadia Riva