PJAK kills IRGC soldier in Kurdistan clashes
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A soldier in Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed Friday evening in clashes with the opposition Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) armed group in northwestern Iran.
“On Friday evening in a clash between the IRGC and the PJAK group one of the IRGC forces in the province was martyred,” reported Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC. The clash took place in Mariwan, Kurdistan province, near the border with the Kurdistan Region.
PJAK was established in 2003 and is considered the Iranian wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), but claims its links are only ideological. Both groups have bases in the Kurdistan Region from where they carry out attacks on Turkish and Iranian security forces.
According to Hengaw's most recent update, an #IRGC soldier was killed and his body was transported to Fajr Hospital in Marivan during last night's, June 16, 2023, combat between the IRGC and the guérillas of the #Kurdistan Free Life Party (#PJAK).
— Hengaw Organization for Human Rights (@Hengaw_English) June 17, 2023
The skirmish on Friday was part of a broader series of clashes between PJAK and Iranian security forces in Kurdistan province, PKK-affiliated Firat news agency said on Friday. According to the agency, the mountainous Kosalan region near Mariwan has been closed to the public and declared a “restricted military area.”
According to human rights monitor Hengaw, Iran has recently established a new military base in these mountains.
After its establishment in the Qandil Mountains - an area on the Kurdistan Region’s border with Iran where the PKK is also headquartered - PJAK expanded its operations in the Kurdish areas of western Iran, recruiting hundreds of young men and fighting bloody battles with the IRGC, killing dozens.
At least 300 PJAK fighters have lost their lives in clashes with Iranian security forces and in shelling by both Tehran and Ankara since the group’s foundation, according to data sent to Rudaw English by senior PJAK member Ahvand Chiako over two years ago.