The Kurdistan Freedom Party, an Iranian Kurdish group, claimed that Iran’s regime carried out a ballistic missile and drone attack on its forces overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to a source, the attack took place in Iraq, where the PAK has fighters. The PAK said that members of its armed unit the Kurdistan National Army (SMK) were targeted. PAK is one of several important Kurdish groups that operate in Iran and oppose the regime. It has been publicly very active in backing the protests in Iran.
Video and photos from the site of the attack show the destruction of vehicles and other debris from the incident. It was not clear from the videos whether the attack was by a missile, drones, or both. Iran has attacked Kurdish dissident groups in Iraq in the past using ballistic missiles and drones.
Iran has also targeted other areas in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region in the past, claiming to be targeting “Mossad.” In one case, an Iranian missile struck the home of a local businessman in Erbil, killing members of his family.
According to the Kurdish media site Rudaw, the PAK said “the occupying state of Iran once again targeted a [military] base of the Kurdistan National Army with a missile and drone attack several times.”
The PAK also said that one of its members was killed in the attack. Mozaffar Mohammadzada, known as Nabaz, was a member of the party who also served in the logistics unit of the Kurdistan National Army. The group added that he “joined the caravan of martyrs of the Befranbar (January) uprising of Kurdistan,” referring to recent widespread protests in Iran.
Iranian attack on PAK first major response since outbreak of protests
The Iranian attack on the PAK appears to be its first major response outside of Iran to the protests. Iran is estimated to have killed thousands of people in the protests since early January. One estimate by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said 4,519 people had been killed.
Kurdish political parties have been united in backing protests in Iran. These include the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), PJAK, Komala, and the PAK. The Kurdish groups formed the Dialogue Center for Inter-Party Cooperation in early January to back the protests in Iran.
PAK has been one of the groups that has claimed a number of armed attacks on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran. It has claimed to strike IRGC bases in Kermanshah and other places.
In 2024, Iran killed businessman Peshraw Dizayee in an attack in Erbil. Rudaw noted at the time that “Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched ten ballistic missiles toward Erbil, under the pretext of targeting ‘spy headquarters’ of anti-Iran groups, killing Dizayee and three other people. His mansion was described by Tehran as a Mossad base - a claim strongly denied by Kurdish officials.”
In 2022, Iran targeted PDKI in an attack. France24 noted “Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard confirmed the attack and said it had targeted the bases of 'terrorist groups' by drones and missiles, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.”
The Washington Kurdish Institute noted that “from September 2018 to October 2023, the Iranian regime and its Iraqi proxies, who are affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), have launched at least 32 attacks on the Kurdistan Region.”