Renewed Iranian attacks in northern Iraq kill at least 1
BAGHDAD (AP) — Missiles fired from Iran targeted bases of an exiled Iranian Kurdish opposition group in neighboring Iraq on Monday, killing at least one person and wounding eight, local officials said. It was the latest in a series of such attacks in recent weeks.
One official with the Iranian opposition in Iraq later put the death toll at three while the health minister in Iraq’s semi-autonomous, Kurdish-run region said the casualty number was expected to rise.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard confirmed the attack in Iraq's Sulimaniyah province and said it had targeted the bases of “terrorist groups” by drones and missiles, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani condemned the attack as a violation of the sovereignty of Iraq and the Kurdish region. The U.N. mission in Iraq also condemned the attack, saying Iraq should not be “used as an arena to settle scores.”
“Dialogue between Iraq and Iran over mutual security concerns is the only way forward,” the U.N. mission added.
Iraq is planning to pursue diplomatic steps in response to the Iranian attacks, said Iraq's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Sahaf.
“The Iranian bombing offends the principle of good-neighborliness. Some neighbors systematically abuse Iraq,” he said.
The missiles targeted the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, which has waged an insurgency against the Iranian government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Korosh Nosrati, an Iranian opposition official in Iraq, said three people died in the missile strikes. Saman Barzanji, the Iraqi region's Kurdish health minister said the casualty numbers could rise.
Iran stepped up attacks targeting Kurdish opposition groups exiled in northern Iraq in September accusing them of orchestrating ongoing...