Iranian border guards killed in armed exchange outside Kurdish city

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) –Three Iranian military personnel have been killed in fresh clashes with Kurdish opposition fighters near the country's border with the Kurdistan Region, a local human rights organization, Hengaw, which documents such incidents, said on Friday.

The armed exchange broke out early Friday at 1 am, involving the border regiment of the Sardasht district of West Azerbaijan province, state media IRNA reported, citing the district mayor, Aqsa Nakhsipour.

The official added that three guards, as well as "a number of villains,” were killed in the confrontation. Hengaw confirmed the incident, but reported that its sources denied that there had been casualties on the opposition side.

No group claimed a role in the latest clashes, which is usually the case after such incidents.

In recent weeks, five armed engagements have been reported between Iranian and Kurdish opposition forces. Only on one occasion did any party claim responsibility. In that case, an armed group affiliated with the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) said that it had attacked a base of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in another part of West Azerbaijan, wounding three members.

Related Article: Kurdish opposition fighters, Iran's IRGC troops killed in fresh clashes

Following a deadly attack by a Kurdish group in early May about 80 kilometers northeast of Mariwan, in Kurdistan Province, IRGC commander Saeed-Sadiq Husseini, threatened "serious responses," as the IRGC-affiliated media outlet, Tasnim, reported last week.

Later that month, Hengaw also reported that IRGC surveillance drones had been sighted in the mountainous areas of Qandil and Halgurd in the Kurdistan Region. Iran has previously struck outposts and bases of Kurdish groups in the mountainous areas of Kurdistan.

Read More: Iran says IRGC killed 'large number' of fighters based in Kurdistan Region

West Azerbaijan, also known as Urmia Province, is among five Iranian provinces that Kurds consider to be—in part or wholly—the country's Kurdish region, widely termed Eastern Kurdistan or Rojhilat.

Kurdish opposition groups have been fighting the Iranian government for decades, demanding equal rights and autonomy for different persecuted minority groups. Tehran claims such entities are terrorist organizations and routinely arrests activists on charges of membership, aiding, or supporting these groups.

Clashes between the military and opposition parties have seen a renewed uptick in recent weeks, after months of reduced tensions, and Iranian security forces have increased their crackdown on civil rights and political activists across the Kurdish region of Rojhilat.

Hengaw reports about Tehran's campaign of arrests cite a marked increase in the detention of Kurdish individuals over the past month, compared to the previous month. On May 21, the watchdog said it had recorded 41 cases in which Kurdish political, civil rights, and religious activists have been arrested over the previous 30 days.

Iranian border guards also regularly shoot Kulbar, a Kurdish term for individuals who smuggle small amounts of goods across the border between the Kurdistan Region and Iran.

Though illegal, it is a local practice that has long since been accepted as normal in the economically undeveloped areas in Rojhilat, where many residents depend on it for their livelihoods.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie