Iranian forces kill Kurdish rebels near Iraq border

At least 30 Kurdish fighters have been killed and 40 injured in clashes near Sardasht, an Iranian official has claimed Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have killed at least 30 Kurdish rebels in fighting near the Iraqi border, according to a military official. A senior Iranian military spokesman, Colonel Hamid Ahmadi, told state TV that another 40 members of the Iranian Kurdish group Pejak had been injured during fierce clashes outside the border city of Sardasht. Following the clash a Pejak spokesman inside Iraq declared an immediate, unilateral ceasefire. Shirzad Kamanger appealed for Iranian forces to stop shelling rebel bases and open talks over the Kurdish group’s demands for greater rights in Iran. But Ahmadi rejected the call, saying: “A ceasefire with a terrorist group doesn’t make any sense.” He told state TV: “We want them to leave the border region before any dialogue can be held.” The fighting comes a week after the Revolutionary Guards announced a new military offensive against Pejak, or the Free Life party of Kurdistan, with the intention of driving them from their positions in Iran. Iran has sporadically bombed Pejak bases deep inside Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region. Tehran maintains it has the right to take such action and has accused Iraqi Kurds of sheltering the group, which is battling over Kurdish areas of north-western Iran. Iran Kurds Iraq Middle East David Batty guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 5, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.