Iran resumes bombing raids against PEJAK targets despite Iraqi warning

The Iranian armed forces bombed PEJAK positions in the Banjawin district east of Sulaimaniya on Tuesday with no casualties having been reported, Iraqi Kurdish news sources told Iran's Press TV.  Â

 

Iranian helicopters last week attacked PEJAK targets in northern Iraq in a cross-border raid, the first time it had used aircraft against the breakaway faction.

 

Wednesday's raid came a couple of weeks after 26 people were killed in a fierce gun battle between Iranian police and the PEJAK, the PKK's Iranian wing, near the Iraqi border. Eighteen of those killed in the April 24 clash were Iranian policemen and eight were PEJAK members.

 

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it summoned the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad on Monday and handed him a letter of protest over last week's air raid. The letter demanded an "immediate halt to these sorts of violations which continue to have negative repercussions on relations between the two countries."

 

Iran and Turkey have been long fighting against the terrorist movements operated by both the PEJAK and the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, including the EU and the United States.