Revolutionary Guard, Kurdish insurgents battle in Iran

Published June 16, 2016

Iran's Revolutionary Guard has battled armed members of an insurgent Kurdish group, leading to fatalities.

A report Thursday by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, the chief of the Guard's ground forces, as saying the clashes happened Wednesday near Oshnavieh, a predominantly Kurdish town in Iran's West Azerbaijan province near its border with Iraq and Turkey.

Pakpour did not identify the insurgents. However, Mohammed Nazif Qadiri, a member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, told The Associated Press that the fighters belonged to his organization.

Both sides gave conflicting death tolls from the fighting. Pakpour said the Guard killed 12 insurgents while three of its members died. Qadiri said the Kurds killed over 12 Guard members, including a colonel.

Pakpour said the fighting ended Thursday.

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