Several Dead and Injured Following Attack on Kurdistan Democratic Party Headquarters

According to Radio Farda's correspondent in Iraq, the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Mostafa Maloudi, was shelled in the city of Koy Sanjaq in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq early Saturday morning. This shelling occurred during a meeting of the party's central committee, which is an opposition party to the Islamic Republic. Initial reports indicate that several party leaders were injured. According to Radio Farda, Mostafa Maloudi, the current Secretary-General, and Khalid Azizi, the former Secretary-General of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, are among the injured in this attack. The party's political office also announced that "during this attack and afterwards, Iranian drones were observed flying over the city of Koy [Koy Sanjaq]." The Rudaw television network attributes these explosions to the Islamic Republic of Iran and has published videos related to this. According to this television network, 9 people were killed and 30 others were injured in these attacks. The Tabnak news site also reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party with six surface-to-surface missiles, located 200 kilometers from the Iranian border in northern Iraq. The Mehr news agency reported that the headquarters of this party in Iraqi Kurdistan was "simultaneously targeted by missile and drone attacks during the party's plenum," with initial reports indicating that 11 members of this party were killed and 35 others were injured. Mehr states that "Soheila Ghaderi" and "Hashim Azizi," senior leaders of this party, are among the deceased. The Entekhab news network has reported the IRGC as the perpetrator of this attack. In recent years, the Islamic Republic has shelled areas of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq under the pretext of the presence of opposition forces and their operations. Despite repeated protests from the government of this region, the shelling by Iran has not ceased. On Tuesday night, December 30, 2016, two explosions occurred near the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the outskirts of Erbil, resulting in at least seven deaths. Although security forces' investigations to find the perpetrators of these explosions have not yet yielded results, Khalid Azizi, the Secretary-General of the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party, accused the Islamic Republic of involvement in these explosions during the funeral of the deceased. Since 2016, following the announcement by armed Kurdish opposition parties against the Islamic Republic of their military forces operating "on a larger scale" in "most areas" of Iranian Kurdistan, clashes between the forces of these parties and the IRGC have increased. The Islamic Republic refers to armed opposition groups in western Iranian provinces, including armed Kurdish parties, as "terrorist groups" or "counter-revolutionaries." However, these groups declare their aim in armed conflict with the Islamic Republic as "defending the rights of Kurds." In this context, Fars reported that 24 military and police forces have been killed in border attacks over a month, 11 IRGC members were killed in clashes with armed individuals in Marivan, and clashes between the IRGC and armed groups in Kermanshah left "four dead." The killing of a senior figure from the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party in Sulaymaniyah was also reported.