Missiles and drones fired by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards killed nine people and injured 24 others as they hit the headquarters of Kurdish dissident organizations in northern Iraq early on Wednesday, state news agency IRNA said. According to a senior member of Komal, an Iranian Kurdish opposition party in exile, the party’s offices were also hit.
Iraq’s foreign minister condemned the offensive, which targeted areas near the cities of Erbil, capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, and Sulaimaniya.
The attacks come after the Iranian regime accuses armed Kurdish separatists of fomenting the wave of protests that have gripped the country in recent weeks. Members of the Revolutionary Guard, the country’s military elite, said in a televised address that the episode marks the beginning of an even greater repression of dissidents – considered terrorists.
“This operation will continue until its threat is extinguished, the bases of terrorist groups are dismantled, and the authorities in the Kurdistan region assume their obligations and responsibilities.”
The nightly protests began 12 days ago when Mahsa Amini, 22, died after being detained in Tehran for allegedly violating the strict dress code imposed by the authorities. The fact that Amini is a Kurd added to the demonstrations the dimension of ethnic violence in Iran — there are a disproportionate number of Kurds executed by the regime every year.
This week, the Iranian police warned again that they will “oppose with all their strength” those who insist on taking to the streets. A statement released by the state news agency Fars on the eve says that almost 60 people have died in the acts since the beginning of the movement, and 1,200 have been detained.
This is the biggest wave of dissatisfaction recorded in the Middle Eastern country since 2019, when a spike in fuel prices brought crowds to the streets. Also at the time, the crackdown was brutal, with security forces using firearms, water cannons and tear gas to disperse protesters and snipers firing from the roof of buildings.
On Wednesday, a cousin of Amini’s who lives in Iraqi Kurdistan and is against the Iranian regime told AFP that Amini died after receiving a “violent blow to the head” by the police. Crediting the information to the girl’s mother, Erfan Salih Mortezaee, 34, said that Amini had her hands and legs beaten with a cane, until police officers hit her on the head and she lost consciousness.
On the same day, the family’s lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, told Isna news agency that the girl’s parents came to argue with police officers when she was arrested.
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