A gun-battle in Sardasht on the northwestern border of Iran, which began around midnight Saturday, continued for about 10 hours and destroyed one of the headquarters of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK).
Iraqi officials accused Iranian forces of infiltrating its borders and demanded that Iran respect its sovereignty.
“There was Iranian infiltration along the Iraqi border,” regional government spokesman Qawa Mahmud told AFP.
“If there is any border problem, the best way to resolve it is through negotiations and peace, not by bombing civilians,” he added.
Iranian security officials denied civilian deaths and demanded that Iraq prevent PJAK from attacking Iran from its bases on the Iraqi side of the border.
“We are waiting for the Iraqi government and the Kurdish authorities in Iraq to stick to their commitments and prevent PJAK rebels from acting against Iran from Iraqi territory,” said Brigadier General Mahmud Pakpur, commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps.
He also added on Monday that PJAK fighters had sustained “heavy losses” in the Al-Watan area and had seen their camps destroyed in the Jassukan region.
The Iranian attacks came even though Massud Barzani, president of Iraqi Kurdistan, had warned about cross-border operations on July 3.
But about a week ago, IRNA had quoted an unknown military official as saying the Iranian security forces “reserve the right to attack and destroy terrorist bases in border areas.”
The raid that followed these statements claimed casualties on both sides.
IRNA had quoted an anonymous source in Sardasht on Sunday as saying that one Revolutionary Guard member and five PJAK fighters were killed. The Iranian Students News Agency, ISNA, reported that three Revolutionary Guards soldiers were wounded in the operation.
IRNA also added that the Guards have “full control of the Sardasht border area,” and have detained an injured PJAK member.
The PJAK forces left lots of ammunition and escaped the area,” it reported.
However, PJAK spokesman Sherzad Kamankar said Iranian forces had sustained several casualties in the battle near the Banjaween area of the Sulaimaniyeh province in the Iraqi Kurdistan.
He also confirmed that two PJAK members had been killed in the clashes.
Alleging that Iranian forces had shelled civilian areas, Kamankar said that the Guards had warned villagers in the area to leave their houses within three days.
But Jabbar Yawar, a spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish security force, the peshmerga, had earlier dismissed Kamnkar’s claims and called them “rumors.”
A spokesman for the political wing of PJAK vowed that the group will continue its struggles despite Iran’s attempts to the contrary.
