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Kurdish PJAK rebels kill 8 Iranian
revolutionary guards
29.5.2008
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May
29, 2008
TEHRAN, Iran, — Six members of Iran's
elite Revolutionary Guards died in clashes with the
Iranian separatist Kurdish PJAK group while two
border guards were killed by mines laid by the
rebels, the Mehr news agency reported on Thursday.
"Six members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed
in clashes with PJAK rebels in the region of
Sardasht" a town 10 kilometres (six miles) from the
Iraqi Kurdistan border in the West Azarbaijan
province, Mehr said.
It said two soldiers serving as border guards were
killed in the same region after stepping on mines
"laid by the counter-revolutionaries." No further
details were given.
The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) operates
from rear-bases in border area of Iraqi Kurdistan
and makes sorties across the border into Iran. It
has been involved in a series of clashes with
Iranian security forces in recent years.
PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan), Since
2004 PJAK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdistan province northwestern of
Iran (Iranian Kurdistan, Eastern Kurdistan). Half the members of PJAK
are women.
The rebel group believed has close links to the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Since 1984
when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish
PKK rebels.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas, the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
Reports last week said that the Revolutionary Guards
had
killed nine Kurdish rebels,www.ekurd.net
five of them women, in
clashes in West Azarbaijan province near the border
with Turkey.
An official newspaper then reported that three
Revolutionary Guards were killed after sustaining
injuries in fighting with rebels in northwestern
Iran (Eastern Kurdistan) but it was not clear if it
was referring to the same clash.
Iran has a substantial Kurdish minority in its
northerwestern provinces. It also has minority
populations of Baluch in the southeast and of Arabs
in Khuzestan province in the southwest.
Iranian officials have accused Britain and the
United States of being behind outbreaks of violence
in these areas.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, AFP |
Agencies
Iranian Kurdistan
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Îranę or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatę
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan)) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 4 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
More about Iranian Kurdistan
PJAK
The present leader of the organisation is Haji
Ahmadi. According to the Washington Times, half the
members of PEJAK are women, many of them still in
their teens, and one of the female members of the
leadership council is Gulistan Dugan, a psychology
graduate from the University of Tehran. This is due
primarily to the fact that PEJAK is strongly
supportive of women's rights. PEJAK believes that
women must have a strong role in government and must
be on an equal level with men in leadership
positions.
More about PEJAK- Party for a
Free Life in Kurdistan
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