Four Militant Kurds Killed in Clashes with Revolutionary Guards in Iran

 The Public Relations of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said its agents killed four Kurdish rebels in the west of the country, the state IRIB TV reported Sunday.  According to the statement, the clashes

 occurred in between the cities of Mahabad and Sardasht in West Azerbijan province home to ethnic Kurds alongside Azeris.

The agents of Intelligence general office in the province of West Azerbaijan detected and killed in an ambush four members of Komeleh banned group the report said citing a statement by the Public Relations of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry.

The Guards claim that the group was responsible for the killings of 4 guardsmen in December 26th 2009 though there were no clashes or death reported by any government agencies at that time.

A group of guerrilla fighters calling themselves “Kurdistan’s Peshmarga Battalion” linked to the leftist Komaleh organization reported around the end of December of last year that “In an ambush against the regime forces around the city of Mahabad four members of the Guards were killed.”

Fars News linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards also reported the number and types of weapons and ammunition that were seized inn this operation against the armed group.

Neither the armed group nor its political wing have made any statement in regards to the clashes with the regime’s security forces; however, a news site close to the group, “Rawa News” had identified the four killed in the operation as Komala members and their names are as follow: Meheydin Kalhouri, Hosen Dehqan, Hayat Mohamad Nasim (from Iraqi Kurdistan) and Mohamad-Amin Afshari.

Iran’s western provinces with large Kurdish population has been the hotbed of regular armed clashes between Iranian security forces and Kurdish militant rebels.  Last year 11 members of several opposition groups were killed in clashes and dozens of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and local paramilitary forces were also killed.

Though these clashes occur in warm seasons due to cold winters and tough terrains in Kurdistan, this is the first clash in the year 2010 between Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Kurdish militant groups.

Iran executed two prisoners (Ihsan Fatahian and Fasih Yasamani linked to Komaleh and Pjakr respectively) in the year 2009 and there are 17 more on deathrow in regime’s prisons alleged of having ties with various Kurdish armed opposition groups.

Iran is made up of various ethnic groups where Kurds make up over 15% of Iran 70 million population.  They demand an equal share in central government and the country’s resources and run their local affairs within a federal Iran.