Thursday, August 30, 2007
Iraqi govt demands Iran stops shelling northern Iraq
Region
(Reuters) -- Iraq's government on Tuesday demanded Iran stop shelling Kurdish areas inside Iraq's northeastern border, warning that relations would be hurt, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said. Iraqi Kurdish officials have complained about cross-border shelling from neighbouring Iran since the middle of the month.
Cross-border skirmishes occasionally occur as Iraq's neighbours Turkey and Iran combat Kurdish separatist rebels operating from bases in Iraq's mountainous northern region of Kurdistan. Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud summoned the Iranian ambassador on Tuesday to protest about the shelling, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The deputy foreign minister demanded the Iranian side immediately cease these attacks," the statement said.
"The affair would affect negatively the good neighbourly relationship between the two countries." The government in Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdistan region said on Tuesday that 450 families from 20 villages along the border had been evacuated because of shelling.
The Iraqi side of the border area is believed to be home to Kurdish PJAK militants seeking autonomy for Kurdish regions of Iran. There has been no official comment from Tehran about the shelling.
Cross-border skirmishes occasionally occur as Iraq's neighbours Turkey and Iran combat Kurdish separatist rebels operating from bases in Iraq's mountainous northern region of Kurdistan. Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud summoned the Iranian ambassador on Tuesday to protest about the shelling, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The deputy foreign minister demanded the Iranian side immediately cease these attacks," the statement said.
"The affair would affect negatively the good neighbourly relationship between the two countries." The government in Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdistan region said on Tuesday that 450 families from 20 villages along the border had been evacuated because of shelling.
The Iraqi side of the border area is believed to be home to Kurdish PJAK militants seeking autonomy for Kurdish regions of Iran. There has been no official comment from Tehran about the shelling.
Labels: Iran, Iraqi government, Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud, northern Iraq, PJAK
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Iranian acts force Kurds to flee homes as the Iraqi govt is blamed for not taking action
Security, Kurdistan
(Voices of Iraq) - Hundreds of panicky Kurdish families inhabiting border areas with neighboring Iran had to flee their homes after Iranian shelling targeted villages at the foot of Mount Qandeel in Sulaimaniya province, 364 km northeast of Baghdad. The families are now living in groups in tents near rivers and wells, waiting for the government's helping hand that is never outstretched.
Iran has been shelling border areas in Qalaat Daza, 135 km northewest of Sulaimaniya; Haj Omran, 147 km northeast of Arbil; and Banjwin district, 96 km northeast of Sulaimaniya for two weeks now under the pretext of tracking down PJAK fighters. Turkey, also, was shelling border areas in the northern Iraqi province of Duhuk under the pretext of fighting members of imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Kurdish sources said the shelling caused damage to property and fires in Kurdish forests.
Iran has been shelling border areas in Qalaat Daza, 135 km northewest of Sulaimaniya; Haj Omran, 147 km northeast of Arbil; and Banjwin district, 96 km northeast of Sulaimaniya for two weeks now under the pretext of tracking down PJAK fighters. Turkey, also, was shelling border areas in the northern Iraqi province of Duhuk under the pretext of fighting members of imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Kurdish sources said the shelling caused damage to property and fires in Kurdish forests.
PJAK (Partiya Jiyana Azada Kurdistanê in Kurdish or Kurdistan Free Life Party) is a Kurdish military opposition group founded in 2004, said to be linked to the PKK. PJAK, although a newly established organization, continuously launches militant operations against Iranian army forces, so that in 2005, in less than 6 months, it killed 120 Iranian police and wounded tens more.
Homeless families complain of a lack of humanitarian relief from any organization, in light of immense material losses, as the shelling sets their lands on fire. Each of the villages of Maradawa, Arka, Aki, Sirw, Sora Kola, Spilka, Eleih and Rash have received more than 50 Iranian artillery shells. Hundreds of acres of orchards were burnt. The attacks caused no casualties.
In the village of Sora Kola, life seems to have come to a standstill. Only seven houses were still standing and all were vacant except one, where the men of the village gathered together. Their families had fled scores of kilometers away. "We hold (Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri) al-Maliki responsible for the burnt orchards and gardens. These incidents took place only after his (recent) visits to Syria, Iran and Turkey," 56-year-old Hamad Hassan told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) while leaning on his pillow and sadly looking at the burnt fields.
A spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdistan region's security force (Peshmerga) had held the central government in Baghdad responsible for any decision representing "a reply to Iranian shelling." "The problem is occurring on international borders. It is Baghdad's responsibility," the Peshmerga spokesman Jabbar Yawir, said.
In one of the PJAK strongholds Amir Kerimi, a member of the Kurdish group's administrative body, said "Iran's attacks began right after Maliki visited Syria, Turkey and Iran and made agreements with those countries." On concerns that Mount Qandeel might turn into a haven for al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq if the PJAK and PKK fighters withdraw, Kerimi replied "No force can ever take Mount Qandeel from us."
PJAK is a splinter group of the PKK. It separated from it after PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was imprisoned in Turkish jails. The nearly 3,000 PJAK fighters then started their armed struggle against the Iranian authorities, with the aim of "building federalism for Iran's Kurdistan."
Homeless families complain of a lack of humanitarian relief from any organization, in light of immense material losses, as the shelling sets their lands on fire. Each of the villages of Maradawa, Arka, Aki, Sirw, Sora Kola, Spilka, Eleih and Rash have received more than 50 Iranian artillery shells. Hundreds of acres of orchards were burnt. The attacks caused no casualties.
In the village of Sora Kola, life seems to have come to a standstill. Only seven houses were still standing and all were vacant except one, where the men of the village gathered together. Their families had fled scores of kilometers away. "We hold (Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri) al-Maliki responsible for the burnt orchards and gardens. These incidents took place only after his (recent) visits to Syria, Iran and Turkey," 56-year-old Hamad Hassan told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) while leaning on his pillow and sadly looking at the burnt fields.
A spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdistan region's security force (Peshmerga) had held the central government in Baghdad responsible for any decision representing "a reply to Iranian shelling." "The problem is occurring on international borders. It is Baghdad's responsibility," the Peshmerga spokesman Jabbar Yawir, said.
In one of the PJAK strongholds Amir Kerimi, a member of the Kurdish group's administrative body, said "Iran's attacks began right after Maliki visited Syria, Turkey and Iran and made agreements with those countries." On concerns that Mount Qandeel might turn into a haven for al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq if the PJAK and PKK fighters withdraw, Kerimi replied "No force can ever take Mount Qandeel from us."
PJAK is a splinter group of the PKK. It separated from it after PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was imprisoned in Turkish jails. The nearly 3,000 PJAK fighters then started their armed struggle against the Iranian authorities, with the aim of "building federalism for Iran's Kurdistan."
Labels: Duhuk, Iran, Mount Qandeel, Nouri Al-Maliki, Peshmerga, PJAK, PKK, Sulaimaniya province, Turkey
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
leaflets warn villagers of Iranian offensive against Kurdish rebels
Region
(Reuters) - Kurdish authorities in northeastern Iraq said on Tuesday they were investigating the authenticity of leaflets warning villagers to evacuate ahead of an Iranian military offensive against Kurdish rebels. Hundreds of villagers have fled their homes in Iraq's mountainous northeast while others hid in caves after what local authorities said was days of intermittent shelling by Iran across the border.
So far there has been no official comment from either Tehran or Baghdad about the shelling. Cross-border skirmishes occasionally occur as Iraq's neighbours Turkey and Iran combat Kurdish separatist rebels operating from bases in Iraq's mountainous and remote north and northeast. The government of Iraq's largely autonomous region of Kurdistan said it was investigating after villagers said they had seen the leaflets thrown from helicopters on Monday.
Residents said there were no identifying marks on the leaflets, written in Kurdish, apart from the words "The Islamic Republic of Iran" across the top and bottom. The leaflets said villagers had 48 hours to evacuate before an Iranian offensive began. "They do not carry an official stamp of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards or the Iranian Defence Ministry," said Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the Kurdish government.
"These leaflets made many people leave their homes."
The leaflets said the offensive would be around the villages of Qandoul, Haj Omran and Isaw and the town of Qal'at Dizah, 325 km (200 miles) north of Baghdad. Two women have been wounded, livestock killed, farms and orchards set ablaze and homes damaged in the shelling near small villages across a front of about 50 km (30 miles), local officials have said in the past three days.
On Saturday, the Iranian news agency Mehr said an Iranian army helicopter which crashed near the border of northern Iraq had been engaged in an operation against the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since 1984, when it launched its struggle for an ethnic homeland in Turkey's southeast.
So far there has been no official comment from either Tehran or Baghdad about the shelling. Cross-border skirmishes occasionally occur as Iraq's neighbours Turkey and Iran combat Kurdish separatist rebels operating from bases in Iraq's mountainous and remote north and northeast. The government of Iraq's largely autonomous region of Kurdistan said it was investigating after villagers said they had seen the leaflets thrown from helicopters on Monday.
Residents said there were no identifying marks on the leaflets, written in Kurdish, apart from the words "The Islamic Republic of Iran" across the top and bottom. The leaflets said villagers had 48 hours to evacuate before an Iranian offensive began. "They do not carry an official stamp of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards or the Iranian Defence Ministry," said Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the Kurdish government.
"These leaflets made many people leave their homes."
The leaflets said the offensive would be around the villages of Qandoul, Haj Omran and Isaw and the town of Qal'at Dizah, 325 km (200 miles) north of Baghdad. Two women have been wounded, livestock killed, farms and orchards set ablaze and homes damaged in the shelling near small villages across a front of about 50 km (30 miles), local officials have said in the past three days.
On Saturday, the Iranian news agency Mehr said an Iranian army helicopter which crashed near the border of northern Iraq had been engaged in an operation against the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since 1984, when it launched its struggle for an ethnic homeland in Turkey's southeast.
Labels: Haj Omran, Iran, Isaw, KRG, PJAK, PKK, Qandoul, Revolutionary Guards
Monday, August 20, 2007
Kurdish officials concerned as fierce clashes escalate between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian forces
Security
(The Guardian) - Iraqi Kurdish officials expressed deepening concern yesterday at an upsurge in fierce clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian forces in the remote border area of north-east Iraq, where Tehran has recently deployed thousands of Revolutionary Guards.
Jabar Yawar, a deputy minister in the Kurdistan regional government, said four days of intermittent shelling by Iranian forces had hit mountain villages high up on the Iraqi side of the border, wounding two women, destroying livestock and property, and displacing about 1,000 people from their homes. Mr Yawer said there had also been intense fighting on the Iraqi border between Iranian forces and guerrillas of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an armed Iranian Kurdish group that is stepping up its campaign for Kurdish rights against the theocratic regime in Tehran.
On Saturday the Iranian news agency Mehr said an Iranian army helicopter which crashed killing six Republican Guard members had been engaged in a military operation against PJAK. Iranian officials said the helicopter had crashed into the side of a mountain during bad weather in northern Iraq. PJAK sources said the helicopter had been destroyed after it attempted to land in a clearing mined by guerrillas. The PJAK sources claimed its guerrillas had also killed at least five other Iranian soldiers, and a local pro-regime chief, Hussein Bapir.
"If this escalates it could pose a real threat to the Kurdistan region, which is Iraq's most stable area," said Mr Yawar, who said he expected the Iraqi government and US officials in Iraq to make a formal protest to Tehran about the "blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty".
Analysts believe PJAK is the fastest growing armed resistance group in Iran. As well as the 3,000 or so members under arms in the mountains, it also claims tens of thousands of followers in secret cells in Iranian Kurdistan. Its campaigning on women's rights has struck a chord with young Iranian Kurdish women. The group says 45% of its fighters are female. Iranian authorities regard the group as a terrorist outfit being sponsored and armed by the US to increase pressure on Iran.
On a recent visit to PJAK camps in the Qandil mountains the Guardian saw no evidence of American weaponry. The majority of its fighters toted Soviet-era Kalashnikovs. In an interview Biryar Gabar, a member of the leadership committee, said the group had no relations with the Americans, but was "open to any group that shares our ideals of a free federal democratic and secular Iran."
Jabar Yawar, a deputy minister in the Kurdistan regional government, said four days of intermittent shelling by Iranian forces had hit mountain villages high up on the Iraqi side of the border, wounding two women, destroying livestock and property, and displacing about 1,000 people from their homes. Mr Yawer said there had also been intense fighting on the Iraqi border between Iranian forces and guerrillas of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an armed Iranian Kurdish group that is stepping up its campaign for Kurdish rights against the theocratic regime in Tehran.
On Saturday the Iranian news agency Mehr said an Iranian army helicopter which crashed killing six Republican Guard members had been engaged in a military operation against PJAK. Iranian officials said the helicopter had crashed into the side of a mountain during bad weather in northern Iraq. PJAK sources said the helicopter had been destroyed after it attempted to land in a clearing mined by guerrillas. The PJAK sources claimed its guerrillas had also killed at least five other Iranian soldiers, and a local pro-regime chief, Hussein Bapir.
"If this escalates it could pose a real threat to the Kurdistan region, which is Iraq's most stable area," said Mr Yawar, who said he expected the Iraqi government and US officials in Iraq to make a formal protest to Tehran about the "blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty".
Analysts believe PJAK is the fastest growing armed resistance group in Iran. As well as the 3,000 or so members under arms in the mountains, it also claims tens of thousands of followers in secret cells in Iranian Kurdistan. Its campaigning on women's rights has struck a chord with young Iranian Kurdish women. The group says 45% of its fighters are female. Iranian authorities regard the group as a terrorist outfit being sponsored and armed by the US to increase pressure on Iran.
On a recent visit to PJAK camps in the Qandil mountains the Guardian saw no evidence of American weaponry. The majority of its fighters toted Soviet-era Kalashnikovs. In an interview Biryar Gabar, a member of the leadership committee, said the group had no relations with the Americans, but was "open to any group that shares our ideals of a free federal democratic and secular Iran."
Labels: Biryar Gabar, IDPs, Iran, Jabar Yawar, KRG, Kurdistan, Kurdistan Free Life Party, PJAK, Qandil mountains, Revolutionary Guards
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Iran threatens to cross into Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels
Iran, Kurdistan, Security
(Bloomberg) Iran's forces may cross into Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels if the government in Baghdad can't expel the militants from border areas, an Iranian military commander said. "I warn Iraq's Kurdish movements and anti-revolutionary armed insurgents who are linked with foreigners that Iraq's government must oust them from the region," Iran's state-run Mehr News agency quoted Yahya Rahim Safavi, who leads the country's Revolutionary Guards, as saying today.
"Otherwise the Revolutionary Guards, to protect the security of the country and Iranian people, will consider it as their right to chase and neutralize them beyond the borders," Safavi said. The Revolutionary Guards are the military unit most loyal to the Shiite Muslim clerics who control the Iranian government.
Iran's armed forces have regular clashes with Kurdish rebels in the northwest of the country, mainly with members of the Party of Free Life in Kurdistan, or PJAK. Iranian forces killed three local PJAK chiefs Feb 26., Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. "PJAK, which calls for official recognition for Iranian Kurds, in 2005 reportedly killed at least 120 Iranian soldiers inside Iran," Control Risks, a London-based company advising businesses on investment hazards, said in an e-mailed note to investors today. "The group in 2006 launched attacks from both northern Iraq and Iran that are likely to have caused higher casualties," Control Risks said.
Fourteen Iranian military personnel died when their helicopter crashed last week during an operation against rebels close to the Turkish border, AFP said. Safavi made his comments at a ceremony in West Azerbaijan province to honor the personnel who were killed. PJAK has links with Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Iran and Turkey signed an accord in 2004 to combat the PKK and an armed Iranian opposition group in Iraq called the People's Mujahedeen.
"Otherwise the Revolutionary Guards, to protect the security of the country and Iranian people, will consider it as their right to chase and neutralize them beyond the borders," Safavi said. The Revolutionary Guards are the military unit most loyal to the Shiite Muslim clerics who control the Iranian government.
Iran's armed forces have regular clashes with Kurdish rebels in the northwest of the country, mainly with members of the Party of Free Life in Kurdistan, or PJAK. Iranian forces killed three local PJAK chiefs Feb 26., Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. "PJAK, which calls for official recognition for Iranian Kurds, in 2005 reportedly killed at least 120 Iranian soldiers inside Iran," Control Risks, a London-based company advising businesses on investment hazards, said in an e-mailed note to investors today. "The group in 2006 launched attacks from both northern Iraq and Iran that are likely to have caused higher casualties," Control Risks said.
Fourteen Iranian military personnel died when their helicopter crashed last week during an operation against rebels close to the Turkish border, AFP said. Safavi made his comments at a ceremony in West Azerbaijan province to honor the personnel who were killed. PJAK has links with Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Iran and Turkey signed an accord in 2004 to combat the PKK and an armed Iranian opposition group in Iraq called the People's Mujahedeen.
Labels: Iran, Kurdistan, People's Mujahedeen, PJAK, PKK, Revolutionary Guards, Yahya Rahim Safavi
