“In an operation to clean up the West Azerbaijan and Kurdistan provinces of counter-revolutionary and terrorist groups, 26 of the agents were killed,” Mohammad Pakpoor, who was described by Fars as the commander of the Revolutionary Guards ground forces, said, noting that the operation had delivered a “massive blow” to the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) and other Kurdish rebel groups.
The outlawed PJAK, an offshoot of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), is operating in northern Iraq's mountainous areas close to the borders with Turkey and Iran.
The Turkish military conducted a major incursion last year against the PKK in northern Iraq, and Turkish warplanes have since carried out regular cross-border bombing raids against targets in the mountainous region. Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ said last year that Turkey and Iran were sharing intelligence and coordinating military operations against the PKK. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in 2008 to expand their security cooperation.
Iran views PJAK, which seeks autonomy for Kurdish areas in Iran, as a terrorist group. The United States also branded PJAK a terrorist organization in February, while the PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by a large majority of the international community, including the United States.
