The terrorists were discovered to be members of the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), the Iranian wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Three others surrendered to the Iranian authorities. The acting commander of Iran’s Border Guards, Rahim Khorshidvand, said the operation against the PKK/PJAK will continue. The Iranian authorities also noted that the bombardment targeting the terrorist camps in northern Iran is continuing.
In the mean time, an Iranian court sentenced arrested terrorists Muhammed Emin Agushi and Ahmet Puladhani to death on several charges, including perpetrating bombings in the name of the terrorist organization the PKK/PJAK, committing murder, threatening Iran’s national security and providing finances for the terrorist organization. These recent sentences raise the number of terrorists sentenced to death to 27. Six others were executed recently.
The Iranian authorities did not accept an offer of a cease-fire from a senior PKK commander, Murat Karayılan, noting that many civilians and soldiers have been killed by the PKK/PJAK in the country. High-ranking Iranian authorities said although the PKK has been accepted as a terrorist organization by the US and European Union member states, imperialist states still use the organization as a contractor in the region. Highlighting that it is impossible to take the cease-fire proposal by the PKK seriously, the authorities said Iranian operations against the PKK/PJAK will continue until the organization is finished.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran maintained its military cooperation with Turkey against terrorism at the highest level when he was in Turkey for a Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) meeting last week.
Eleven terrorists from the PKK were killed recently in operations against the organization in Syria. The simultaneous operations were carried out by the Syrian military in four provinces near the Turkish border.
