Baghdad: At least two people were killed and 10 injured in a series of Iranian missile strikes that targeted, on Monday, the headquarters of the Iranian Kurdish party in the Koysanjak district of Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Iran launched strikes with drones and missiles, targeting centres of terrorist parties in the northern region of Iraq, Iranian Fars News Agency reported.
The headquarters of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, including “Komala” and the Iranian Communist Party, was also bombed by a drone.
Tariq al-Haidari, mayor of Koysanjaq in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, told AFP that five Iranian missiles targeted a building used by the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran.
On Monday, the United Nations Mission in Iraq, “UNAMI”, condemned the Iranian bombing that targeted areas in the Kurdistan region, calling on the Iraqi and Iranian sides to dialogue on “security concerns”.
“We condemn the renewed Iranian attacks with missiles and drones on the Kurdistan region, which violate Iraqi sovereignty,” the mission said in a statement while stressing “Iraq should not be used as an arena for settling scores, and its territorial integrity must be respected.”
Since the death of the 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, on September 16 and the outbreak of protest in Iran, the Revolutionary Guards have launched several attacks on the bases of the Iranian Kurdish opposition in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which Iran accuses of fomenting protest.
In September 2022, the Revolutionary Guard confirmed in a statement the continuation of its operations in Iraqi Kurdistan “as long as the bases of terrorist groups are not removed” and as long as the regional authorities “do not act in accordance with their obligations”.
These attacks continued despite warnings from the United States and the United Nations.
In a statement, the US State Department strongly condemned the shameful attacks of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Kurdistan region, and said, “These attacks are an unjustified violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed concern over the bombing of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including the bombing of civilian areas, and called for an immediate de-escalation and respect for Iraq’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and the principle of good neighbourliness.
