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Iran Revolutionary Guards kill 26 Kurdish
PJAK rebels
24.8.2009
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August 24, 2009
Orumieh, Iranian Kurdistan, —
Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have killed 26
Kurdish PJAK rebels in Iranian Kurdistan
(northwestern Iran), a commander of the guards was
quoted as saying on Sunday by the Fars news agency.
"In an operation to clean up the West Azerbaijan and
Kurdistan provinces of counter-revolutionary and
terrorist groups, 26 of the agents were killed,"
said Mohammad Pakpoor,www.ekurd.net
who was described by Fars as
commander of the Revolutionary Guards ground forces.
He said the operation had delivered a "massive blow"
to the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) and
other Kurdish rebel groups.
He gave no indication of the period in which the
killings took place but said that no guards forces
were killed in the operation.
The commander vowed a further "crackdown on any
instigators of insecurity directed by foreign or
internal counter-revolutionaries" in the region.
Western Iran, which has a sizeable Kurdish
population, has seen deadly fighting in recent years
between Iranian security forces and PJAK rebels
operating from rear-bases in neighbouring Iraqi
Kurdistan. |
Since 2004 the PJAK took up arms for self-rule in
Kurdistan province northwestern of Iran (Iranian
Kurdistan). Half the members of PJAK are women. |
The group is closely allied with
the Turkish Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist
group by Ankara and much of the international
community.
The PJAK, or the (Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistane) (Party of Free Life of
Kurdistan), is a militant Kurdish nationalist group based in border region of northern Iraq
with Iraq that
has been carrying out attacks Iranian forces in the Kurdistan Province of Iran
(Eastern Kurdistan) and other Kurdish-inhabited areas.
PJAK is a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Confederation (Koma Civaken
Kurdistan or KCK), which is an alliance of outlawed Kurdish groups and divisions
led by an elected Executive Council.
Led by Haji Ahmadi, the PJAK’s objective is to establish a semi-autonomous
regional entities or Kurdish federal states in Iran, Turkey and Syria similar to
the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq.
Since
2004 the PJAK took up arms for self-rule in Kurdistan province northwestern of
Iran (Iranian Kurdistan, Eastern Kurdistan). Half the members of PJAK
are women. The PJAK has about 3,000 armed
militiamen.
The United States on February 4, 2009 added the Iranian Kurdish PJAK militant group
opposed to Iran
to its list of terrorist
organizations.
Iraq,www.ekurd.net
Iran, Syria and Turkey all have significant
ethnic Kurdish minorities. Estimate to 12 million
Kurds live in Iran.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
AFP | Agencies
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