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Iranian Military Building Base 2-3 km Inside Northern Iraq
Iran has sent troops into neighboring Iraq in search for Kurdish insurgents. A senior official said the Iranian Army deployed troops in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan province in early June. Deputy Kurdish Interior Minister Jabar Yawar said 35 Iranian soldiers raided Iraq and established a base in the Kurdish village of Perdunaz on June 3."They have been here for several days," Yawar said on June 5. At this point, the Iranian military presence has reached fewer than three kilometers inside Iraq. Yawar said the Iranian incursion was launched after several days of artillery shelling of an area east of Irbid, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government. Officials said the Iranian military has begun constructing a camp in Iraq. They said Iranian military trucks were transporting building material and equipment to the site. "The [Iranian] forces have moved into the border area between two and three kilometers," Yawar said. "We have informed the Iraqi border police and Interior Ministry in Baghdad and hope the central government will take a clear and firm position." In May 2010, Iran was said to have launched an offensive against the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, or PEJAK, an arm of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). Teheran has accused Kurdistan of serving as a safe haven of PEJAK. So far, the Iraqi government has refused to acknowledge the Iranian incursion. In January, Baghdad and Teheran engaged in a military standoff when Iranian troops raided an oil field in eastern Iraq. At the same time, Iran executed five convicted Kurdish insurgents on charges of membership in PEJAK. Teheran has charged that the Kurdish insurgents have been supported by British and U.S. intelligence. On June 6, KRG called on Iran to withdraw its troops from Kurdistan. Officials said Iran might have also conducted aerial reconnaissance over northern Iraq. "We express our deep concern over the continued shelling and violations of the sovereignty of Iraqi territory in the Kurdistan region," KRG spokesman Mahmoud Kawa said. Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-06-08 |
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