EAST KURDISTAN (IRAN) Iran says 11 Kurdish rebels, 3 Revolutionary Guards killed in clashes

28 June 2016 – MESOP –  Eleven Kurdish rebels and three of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards were killed in clashes in Iranian Kurdistan near the border with Iraqi Kurdistan, the Fars news agency reported on Tuesday. “A group of 11 counter-revolutionaries linked to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), who were attempting to infiltrate the country were immediately detected… and were eliminated after 10 days of pursuit in the Sarvabad region,” said General Mohammad Hossein Rajabi, commander of the Revolutionary Guards in Kurdistan province.

He added that three members of the Revolutionary Guards were also killed.

It followed reports on Sunday that five rebels had been killed in the region. It was not clear if these were included in the 11 reported dead on Tuesday.The commander the Revolutionary Guards’ ground forces, General Mohammad Pakpour, threatened on Sunday to launch cross-border attacks against rebel bases in northern Iraq.“Since the main bases of these terrorists are in northern Iraq, if they don’t follow through with commitments to stop these attacks, their bases will be targeted where they are,” he said.Iran has shelled Kurdish rebels inside Iraq’s Kurdistan Region last Sunday. www.mesop.de