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KOYA, Iraq (AP) — A crusade of bombing by Iranian drones against bases of an Iranian-Kurdish opposition organization in northern Iraq killed at least nine other people and wounded 32 others on Wednesday, the Kurdish regional government’s health ministry said.
The moves came as protests continued to engulf the Islamic Republic after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd detained by Iran’s police.
Iran is attacking Koya, about 65 kilometers (35 miles) east of Erbil, said Soran Nuri, a member of Iran’s Kurdistan Democratic Party. The group, known by the acronym KDPI, is a left-wing armed opposition force banned in Iran.
The U. N. High Commissioner for Refugees, in a statement, said the attacks “had an effect on Iranian refugee camps” in Koya, and that refugees and other civilians were among the victims.
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry and the Kurdistan Regional Government condemned the attacks.
Iran’s IRNA news and broadcaster said the country’s Revolutionary Guards had bases of a separatist organization in northern Iraq with “precision missiles” and “suicide drones. “
General Hasan Hasanzadeh of the Revolutionary Guards said 185 Basijis, a volunteer force, were wounded with “machetes and knives” in the unrest, state news firm IRNA reported Wednesday. Hasanzadeh also said protesters broke the skull of one of the Basij members. He said five Basijis are hospitalized in intensive care.
Iranian drone movements targeted an army camp, homes, offices and other spaces around Koya, Nuri said. Nuri described the attack as ongoing.
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said the Baghdad government summoned the Iranian ambassador to register a diplomatic complaint about the attacks.
In Baghdad, 4 Katyusha rockets landed Wednesday in the capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone as lawmakers gathered in parliament.
The area, home to the U. S. Embassy in Iraq, is a common target of rocket and drone strikes that the U. S. attributes to Iranian-backed Iraqi militias.
The Iraqi military earlier said one rocket landed near parliament, another near the parliament’s guest house and a third at a crossroads near the Judicial Council. Two security officials told the Palestinian Authority that the fourth rocket also landed near parliament. .
News from the Iraqi state reported that 4 security guards had been injured.
The office of acting Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said in a statement that security forces were pursuing the attackers who fired the rockets and called on protesters to remain peaceful.
Cellphone footage circulating on social media showed smoke billowing from a parking lot near the parliament building.
After the first of the moves in northern Iraq, Iran bombed seven positions in the Koya stronghold of Qala, a KDPI official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to speak publicly. The Qala region includes the party’s political bureau.
An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances pass through Koya after the attacks. Smoke was rising from the site of an obvious attack as security forces closed off the area.
Meanwhile, security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Iranian Kurds protesting in Sulimaniyah.
On Saturday and Monday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards unleashed a wave of drones and artillery moving Kurdish positions.
The attacks appear to be a reaction to ongoing protests rocking Iran over the death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who was detained through the National Vice Police.
The U. S. Department of State The U. S. attacks Iran as “an unwarranted violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. “
“We are also aware of reports of civilian casualties and deplore any loss of life from today’s attacks,” spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. “In addition, we further condemn the Iranian government’s comments threatening additional attacks on Iraq. “
The U. N. Assistance Mission for Iraq said in a tweet that the country may simply not be treated as the region’s “backyard” where neighbors and with impunity violate its sovereignty.
“International rocket relations are a reckless act with devastating consequences,” the UN said.
Meanwhile, Britain’s minister of state for the Middle East said the attacks “demonstrate a repeated trend of Iranian destabilizing activities in the region,” while Germany’s Foreign Ministry and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also condemned Iran for the attacks.
The U. N. secretary-general called on Iran early Wednesday to join the “unnecessary or disproportionate force” opposing protesters as riots over the death of a young woman in police custody spread across the country.
Guterres said through a spokesman that the government deserves an independent investigation into Amini’s death, which sparked unrest in Iran’s provinces and Tehran’s capital.
“We are involved through reports of an increasing number of deaths, adding women and children, related to the protests,” U. N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. “We pressed the need for a prompt, independent and effective investigation into the death. of Ms. Mahsa Amini through an independent competent authority”.
The protests spread to at least 46 towns and villages in Iran. State television reported that at least 41 protesters and police have been killed since the protests began on Sept. 17.
An Associated Press government’s tally of official statements left at least 14 other people dead and more than 1,500 protesters arrested.
In a statement, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard called for an investigation into the protesters’ deaths.
“Dozens of other people, in addition to children, have been killed so far and many injured,” he said. “The voices of the brave other Iranian people who desperately don’t have easy foreign aid deserve not to be ignored. “
The human rights organization added that it had documented cases of sexual attacks by Iranian security forces against female protesters.
Meanwhile, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it had documented the arrests of at least 23 bloodhounds as clashes between security forces and protesters intensified.
CPJ, on a Wednesday, called on the Iranian government to “immediately” release the arrested bloodhounds who covered Amini’s death and the protests.
Dujarric added that Guterres under pressure wants to respect human rights, adding freedom of expression, non-violent assembly and arranging the meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on September 22.