Posted on 05/02/2009 12:54:18 PM PDT by Schnucki
Iranian helicopters have attacked three Kurdish villages in northern Iraq in an apparent cross-border raid targeting Kurdish separatists, according to an Iraqi Kurdish border guard official.
There were no immediate reports of casualties after the pre-dawn raid along the Iraqi border province of Sulaymaniya on Saturday.
"At 4 am (0100 GMT) they attacked with artillery the villages of Kani Saif, Jomarasi and Kara Sozi, that belong to the Panjwin district," the border guard official told the AFP news agency.
"After the (initial) attacks, three Iranian helicopters attacked these areas again.
"This is the first time they have used helicopters."
The website of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, quoting witnesses, corroborated the report, adding that the aircraft flew at very low altitude over the villages.
The border guard official said the area was not considered a stronghold of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an Iranian Kurdish separatist group that appeared to have been the target of the raid.
There was no immediate comment from Iran.
The air raid, if confirmed, would be the first by the Iranian air force on the region.
Deadly clash
The incident comes a week after reports of a clash between Iranian police officers and suspected PJAK fighters in the country's western province of Kermanshah.
At least 10 policemen and 10 fighters were killed in the gun battle.
Kermanshah borders Iraq and is home to many of Iran's minority Kurds.
Iran's western provinces have been the scene of regular armed clashes between Iranian security forces and Kurdish separatists including PJAK, a group linked to Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The PKK took up arms in 1984 to fight for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey and is recognised by much of the international community as a terrorist group.
Some Iranian analysts said that PJAK fighters had bases in northeastern Iraq from where they operated against Turkey, Iran, and Syria.
If Iranian planes are flying in to Iraqi airspace why is the U.S. Air Force not taking them out?
Does the U.S. Air Force not control the skies above Iraq?
Were I a fighter jockey I’d love to take a shiny Iranian jet and blow it to hell.
Bet this little bit of ethnic cleansing won’t get celebrity opposition or a t-shirt.
Jet helicopters? Wow! Those Iranians are on the forefront of technology.
The headline says jets, the story says helicopters. (?)
It's al jazeera. ;)
I’ll find another source
These may be the same villages that were wiped out by Chemical Ali. I found the Kurds were very friendly and helpful to us and provided food and water etc. it is a fact that the mass graves South of Baghdad were filled with Kurdish men women and children. They did bury the men separate from women and children
Seems others are reporting it as helicopters.
The Turks have been hitting the
PKK heavily recently...
http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSLU943253
“These may be the same villages that were wiped out by Chemical Ali.”
It’s near that area. There may be some survivors of Saddam’s extermination attempts there now.
It’s the PKK.
See post # 9.
Uh Oh!
Wars have started for less but seeing Obambi is in charge nothing will happen.
There is a bit of confusion about PJAK. They try to maintain that they are no longer affiliated with PKK
The PPK and PJACK are not making any friends in the area.
Since the Kurds as a whole occupy parts of Turkey, Iraq and Iran any homeland will have to include parts of all three countries or in just one serve as a base to attack the other two.
Well, the PKK are communists. Let’s hope they DON’T make friends in the area.
So are the DNCers I wonder how long before the Chairman sends a nasty Email in Caps or Red?
Iranian helicopters have attacked three Kurdish villages in northern Iraq in an apparent cross-border raid targeting Kurdish separatistsThe Kurdish areas are in effect autonomous. If any NGO in the Middle East should be receiving US aid and arms, it's the Kurds.
Iran has been striking Kurdish positions in Iraq for decades. Even when President Bush was in office! Iraqi airspace can’t be controlled 24/7. The close proximity of the targets to the Iranian border precludes this.
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/turkey/8524072.asp?gid=231&sz=59500
Iran shells Kurdish militants bases in N.Iraq: Kurdish official
Iranian artillery shelled on Sunday three border towns in northern Iraq where Iranian Kurdish militants are believed to be operating, an Iraqi Kurdish official said.
The shelling on the towns of Marado, Razda and Dolakoka started at 7:00 a.m. and lasted for about two hours, said Azad Watho, a top administrative official in Sulaimaniyah city. Watho, who is administratively in charge of these towns, said the shelling had targeted the fighters of the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, or PEJAK, but had no more details.
Sulaimaniyah, one of three provinces that make up Iraq’s semiautonomous region of Kurdistan, is located about 260 kilometers (160 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
Tehran had no immediate comment on the report and officials could not be reached because of the official Nowruz, or New Year, holiday in the Persian nation. The Iranian army frequently shells villages in the mountains of northern Iraq where it alleges that members from PEJAK, a breakaway faction of the outlawed separatist PKK, are based.
In a similar shelling by Iran last September, a former chief of the elite Revolutionary Guard, said Tehran considers shelling the guerrilla its right in order to protect its security. Iran repeatedly has said the PEJAK regularly launch attacks inside Iran from bases in Iraq in the Qandil Mountain area that borders Iran and Turkey.
Last August, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari strongly criticized Iranian artillery and warned that it would negatively effect the relations between the two neighboring countries. Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the collapse of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, the Iraqi government has had good relations with Iran.
The two countries experienced an eight year war, launched by Iraq in 1980 that left 1 million killed on both sides.
http://www.aina.org/news/20070523160405.htm
Iran Shells Kurdish Guerrilla Haven in Northern Iraq
The barrage lasted much of the day and targeted several villages, said Hussein Ahmed, the mayor of Bashdar, one of the targeted villages.
“I expect there will be both human and material losses, but I do not know right now the extent of the damage,” he told reporters.
The snow-capped Qandil mountains run along Iraq’s border with both Turkey and Iran, and are home to separatist guerrillas from the anti-Iranian faction Pejak, an offshoot of Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), which opposes Turkey.
The movements have fought for decades for the autonomy of the Kurdish people, though recently they claim to have abandoned violence in favor of a peaceful solution.
Turkey has threatened to invade the northern Iraqi PKK haven if their activities are not reigned in by the Iraqi Kurdish regional government, while Iran frequently shells the area.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961254911&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
2006
On Sunday, Iranian artillery fired more than 180 shells into the same area of northern Iraq, also targeting Kurdish rebel bases but causing no casualties, the Iraqi government said. Those shells landed near the Iraqi village of Haj Omran, which is about 3 miles inside the Iraq-Iran border, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said.
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