The US describes the attacks as "an assault on the sovereignty of Iraq and its people"
MADRID, 29 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -
At least 13 people have died and 58 have been injured this Wednesday in a series of missile and drone attacks carried out by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard against Iraqi Kurdistan, as confirmed by the authorities of this semi-autonomous region.
The Antiterrorist Foundation in the Iraqi Kurdistan region has detailed that more than 70 'Fateh' ballistic missiles and drones have been launched from inside Iranian territory towards the semi-autonomous Iraqi region, all in four stages, according to the news portal Shafaq.
Among the dead is a pregnant woman, while the injured include the vast majority of civilians, including children under the age of ten, students, teachers and journalists.
According to information collected by the Kurdish television channel Rudaw, the attacks have reached the headquarters of the Party for the Freedom of Kurdistan (PAK), the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran (PDKI), the Party for a Free Life for Kurdistan (PJAK ) and Komala in Suleimani and Erbil provinces.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has said that it has attacked "positions of terrorist groups" with "precision missiles" and drones, without commenting on possible deaths, as reported by the Iranian news agency Tasnim. The day is the fifth in a row of attacks against targets in Iraqi Kurdistan.
For his part, the head of the PAK, Husein Yazdanpaná, has confirmed that the formation has suffered "multiple" casualties in a bombardment against its base in Sheraua, near Pirde, while the PDKI has denounced an attack against its headquarters in Koya.
Likewise, Mohamed Salí Qaderi, a senior party official, stressed that "there are women and children" in the camp and added that there are also several bases of Kurdish-Iranian groups in the surroundings.
This same Wednesday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry announced that it will summon the Iranian ambassador to the country to protest the "continuous bombing of areas in the Kurdistan region." Speaking to the Iraqi news agency INA, the ministry's spokesman, Ahmad al Sahaf, stated that the ambassador "will be summoned urgently to receive a note of protest."
Shortly before the announcement, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry has condemned the missile and artillery attacks perpetrated by the Iranian forces and has warned to activate the "highest level diplomatic response".
Another of those who has spoken out in the face of the attacks has been the United States National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, who has shown his support for the leaders of Iraq in the region and has condemned the events as "an assault on the sovereignty of Iraq and its people".
"Iranian leaders continue to show blatant disregard not only for the lives of their own people, but also those of their neighbors and the fundamental principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity enshrined in the UN Charter," he said.
In this sense, he explained that the Iranian side uses these attacks to divert attention from its internal problems. "Its provision of drones to Russia for its war of aggression in Ukraine and to its proxies throughout the Middle East region should be universally condemned," she stressed.
The PDKI claims the creation of a Kurdish entity in Iran, something that the Islamic Republic has refused. PDKI and Revolutionary Guard fighters clashed in 2015 in northern Iran, leaving several dead and wounded on both sides.
For his part, the secretary of Komala, Abdullah Muhtedi, has condemned the Iranian attacks and stressed that the offense "will unite the parties" and the Iranian Kurds "against the Islamic Republic". "We ask the West and the United States to end Iranian aggression," he has settled.
Iranian authorities have accused Kurdish opposition groups of fueling recent protests in the country over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl from the Kurdish minority who died in custody after being arrested in Tehran for allegedly wearing the veil incorrectly.
Iran has about seven million Kurds, which represents about ten percent of its population. Most live in the Kurdistan region, located in the northwest of the country, near the border with Iraq.