IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Iran’s tough Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unleashed a wave of drone and artillery movements Monday that Tehran says are Iranian Kurdish separatist bases in northern Iraq, a semi-official news firm reported.
It is the time for such a cross-border attack since Saturday, at a time when Iran is convulsed by protests over the death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman detained by the National Morality Police.
A representative of one of the separatist teams in Iraq targeted by the attack, which hit the Sidikan region in the Kurdish-ruled northern region, said there were no casualties.
“Today, 3 times, the Islamic Republic [of Iran] bombed the side of Halgurd Mountain where our forces are located,” said Atta Nasir, a member of the central committee of Komala, a Kurdish opposition party exiled from Iran. He spoke to The Associated Press from the party’s headquarters near the Iran-Iraq border.
Each attack lasted two to three hours, he said, with artillery fire and Katyusha rockets.
“Fortunately, we’ve had casualties so far,” Nasir said.
On Saturday, the Guard said it had attacked bases and camps of Kurdish separatist teams in northern Iraq, saying it had inflicted serious damage.
Protests opposing Mahsa Amini’s death have spread to at least 46 towns and villages. Iranian state TV reported that at least 41 protesters and police have been killed since the protests began on Sept. 17. An Associated Press tally of official statements through the government left at least thirteen other people dead, with more than 1,400 protesters arrested.
Col. Ali Mirahmadi, deputy police chief of Semnan province, said 155 protesters had been arrested since the crisis began, semi-official news firm Mehr reported monday. He said the detainees were troublemakers or active on social media.
In Monday’s report, the semi-official Tasnim news firm said the Guard’s attacks were a reaction to suspected separatists over the unrest in Iran, as well as their attempts to smuggle weapons.
In response to Iranian demands, Nasir said: “We. . . We have shown our complete effort for the demands of the people. We have eliminated those protests and will continue in any and all possible ways. “
He said Komala members did not participate directly in the protests but showed their involvement through their peers and family in Iran.
Last year, the Guard also attacked the bases of its “terrorist group” in northern Iraq.
There was no quick comment from the Iraqi government. The two neighboring countries have close political and military ties, and Tehran has provided significant military aid to Baghdad in its years-long war against the Islamic State group.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday it had summoned Iran’s ambassador in the wake of protests and brutal police moves there. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for new sanctions against Iran in the wake of the violent crackdown.
“Now we will have to communicate very temporarily in the EU about the long-term consequences, which for me also come with sanctions against those responsible,” he told German news agency dpa in Berlin.
“The attempt to suppress nonviolent protests now with even more lethal force must not go unanswered. “
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it had documented the arrests of at least 20 journalists as clashes between security forces and protesters intensified.
On Monday, the organization called on the Iranian government to end its crackdown on news hounds and release all those arrested since anti-government protests began last week.
“Let the Iranian government shame itself for orchestrating this brutal repression,” said Sherif Mansour, the committee’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator.
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