Commander Calls on Baghdad to Stop PJAK’s Terrorist Activities in Iraq

A senior Iranian police commander underlined Iran and Iraq’s common view about the need for tough confrontation with PJAK terrorist group along the two countries’ borders, and called on Baghdad to take the necessary security measures to control and prevent the group’s activities.
“The Iraqi Kurdistan region’s security forces do not have the necessary power to provide security along borders and this has resulted in the deployment of PJAK forces in parts of Iraq’s soil where they act against our country’s security,” Commander of Iran’s Border Guard Units General Hossein Zolfaqari told reporters in the Western city of Sanandaj today.

He added that Iranian officials have asked their Iraqi counterparts to do more about security along their country’s Northern borders with Iran.

“Basically, there is no problem between Iran and Iraq and both countries share a common view about illegality of PJAK’s terrorist activities,” Zolfaqari noted.

In July, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) arrested several teams of PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan), who intended to infiltrate Iran to stage terrorist operations in the country.

About 5,000 military forces were deployed in the Northwestern parts of the country along its joint border with the Iraqi Kurdistan region. During the operations, the IRGC forces killed, injured and arrested tens of terrorists and destroyed their headquarters in the bordering areas of Alvatan near Sardasht city in Northwestern Iran.

PJAK, a militant Kurdish nationalist group with bases in the mountainous regions of Northern Iraq, has been carrying out numerous attacks in Western Iran, Southern Turkey and the Northeastern parts of Syria where the Kurdish populations live.

The separatist group has been fighting to establish an autonomous state, or possibly a new world country, in the area after separating Kurdish regions from Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.

Iranian intelligence and security officials have repeatedly complained that Washington provides military support and logistical aids for such anti-Iran terrorist groups.