Two dead in Iran strikes on Iraqi Kurdistan: Iran Kurd rebels

IRBIL (AFP): Two people were killed in Iranian cross-border strikes Wednesday against military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan belonging to the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, the KDPI said.

“The forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran attacked the bases and headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran with missiles and drones” in Koysinjaq, east of Irbil, the KDPI, which operates rear bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, announced in a statement.

“Two people have been killed, while several peshmergas have been wounded,” it added, referring to fighters.

Iranian artillery fire has hit border districts of Iraqi Kurdistan on several occasions in recent days.

The fire comes amid tensions generated by the death in Iranian morality police custody of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini earlier this month after she was arrested in Tehran for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic’s strict rules on hijab headscarves and modest clothing.

Protests have swept Iran, prompting a domestic crackdown that has killed at least 76 people, according to the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights.

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency has put the protest toll at “around 60,” inclusive of several members of the Iranian security forces.

Kurdish communities in western Iran share strong connections with Kurdish-inhabited areas of Iraq.

Many cross the border into Iraq to find work, due to a biting economic crisis in Iran driven in large part by US sanctions.