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Iran says strike on Kurd rebels warning to 'foreign powers'
 by Staff Writers
 Tehran (AFP) Sept 13, 2018

Iran Kurd rebels pick up pieces after missile attack
Koysinjaq, Iraq (AFP) Sept 13, 2018 - A man wearing a white surgeon's mask sprays red paint at pockmarks left in a white wall by shrapnel -- honouring comrades who died in an Iranian missile attack in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The man is a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, a rebel group based in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, whose headquarters were targeted by the missile attack on September 8.

At least 15 KDPI leaders and members were killed at the base in Koysinjaq, according to the rebels.

"The victims have obviously left a big hole", said KDPI Secretary General Mustafa Muludi, one of around 30 wounded in the strikes.

"We have suffered a great loss because (the dead leaders) had political experience and expertise", he said.

"We have always considered Iran a danger to us. This bombardment has made our fear stronger."

But Muludi said he was confident the KDPI would fill the leadership void.

Iran said the strikes were retaliation for repeated cross-border incursions by the "terrorist" group.

The KDPI is Iran's oldest Kurdish separatist group.

It was banned after the Islamic revolution of 1979.

Iran's armed forces chief of staff said on Tuesday that Kurdish leaders in Iraq had given assurances in the past that they would rein in the KDPI and other anti-Iran militants.

"But since last year, provoked by America, they broke this pledge," Major General Mohammad Bagheri told Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency.

While Iran has called on Iraq to expel the rebels, Baghdad has called the missile strikes a violation of its sovereignty.

Kurds, a non-Arab ethnic group, have long agitated for their own state.

They number between 25 and 35 million people spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

In Iran they make up around 10 percent of the population.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Thursday that a missile strike they launched on a Kurdish rebel base in neighbouring Iraq last week should serve as a warning to "arrogant foreign powers".

The elite Guards fired seven medium-range ballistic missiles at the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in Koysinjaq in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, causing major casualties and damage with what they described as a precision strike.

"With a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles), our missiles endow the Iranian nation with a unique ability to fight against arrogant foreign powers," Guards commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari told the semi-official ISNA news agency.

"All those that have forces, bases and equipment within a 2,000 kilometre radius of Iran's sacred borders should know that (our) missiles are highly accurate."

Iranian officials have long referred to the United States as the "world arrogance" and the Guards' arsenal of medium-range missiles puts US bases in the Gulf and beyond within reach.

Relations between Iran and the United States have nosedived since President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear agreement in May and reimposed crippling sanctions in a major blow to its already struggling economy.

"(Our) recent vengeance upon terrorists had a very clear message for enemies, especially superpowers who think they can bully us," said Jafari.

The KDPI had sent numerous "terrorist teams" into Iran's West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan and Kermanshah provinces in recent months, according to the Guards.

The group is Iran's oldest Kurdish movement and several of its leaders have been assassinated by Tehran in the past.

Iran's ballistic missile programme is a bone of contention, particularly for Washington, which has repeatedly accused Tehran of seeking to destabilise the region.

Tehran says its missile arsenal is vital to its defence in a troubled region.


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THE STANS
Campaigning begins for Iraqi Kurdish parliamentary vote
 Arbil, Iraq (AFP) Sept 11, 2018
 Campaigning kicked off on Tuesday for a parliamentary election in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region amid political divisions a year after hopes for independence were dashed. Around 673 candidates from 29 political movements have thrown their hats into the ring hoping to secure one of 111 seats in Kurdistan's parliament at the election on September 30. Eleven of the seats are however reserved for religious and ethnic minorities and five will go to Turkmen candidates, five to Christians and one to ... read more
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