ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Three Iranian drones targeted “residential” sites belonging to the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) north of Erbil on Friday, the dissident group reported, accusing Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of standing behind the attack which marked the second of its kind in less than three days.
“Iran’s terrorist IRGC launched a new wave of suicide drones against the Jejnikan residential camp of the KDPI this morning, marking the second such attack on Jejnikan within three days,” the group said in a statement.
The KDPI, which is the largest Iranian Kurdish dissident group, add that “Jejnikan serves as a civilian residential camp for KDPI members’ families,” noting that since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, “the Islamic Republic of Iran has targeted KDPI family camps, as well as the party’s medical and educational facilities, nearly 130 times using ballistic missiles and drones.”
Earlier on Wednesday, a double Iranian drone attack targeted the same site, with no casualties reported as well.
The US and Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign against Iran on February 28, striking thousands of targets over six weeks of hostilities. In response, Iran carried out thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting alleged US assets and launching retaliatory attacks against Israel.
The Iranian response also involved Iraqi armed groups aligned with the Tehran-led ‘Axis of Resistance,’ with several factions claiming responsibility for attacks on purported US targets in the region, including in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
The US and Iran agreed to a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire on April 8, halting fighting to allow space for talks. While the first round of discussions concluded without a final agreement on April 11, a second round has yet to take place, as the war has yet to fully conclude.
Despite this, the Kurdistan Region has been hit by 68 drones and missiles since the start of the ceasefire, according to Rudaw tracking.
Kurdish leaders have repeatedly censured Tehran over the attacks, which continue despite the ceasefire and despite the Kurdistan Region not being a party to the conflict, nor allowing its territory to be used as a launchpad for attacks against Iran.
In a late April interview with Rudaw, Hamid Reza Gholamzadeh, director of Iran’s Diplomatic House and former editor-in-chief of the semi-official Mehr News Agency, stated that Iran views the attacks on Kurdish opposition groups as part of “efforts to secure its border that began even before the [six-week] war.”
He hinted that Tehran would continue to “defend its own security” against them, adding that this issue “is not connected to war. It is more about the security of the borders,” he said.