SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - The Iranian military on Wednesday shelled seven Iraqi border villages, causing no injuries or damage but terrifying residents, an Iraqi official said. The shells were apparently aimed at bases of Kurdish rebel group Pejak (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan), said the mayor of Zarawah, a frontier town in northeastern Iraq. Pejak is accused by Tehran of launching deadly attacks on security forces in northwestern Iran.“Iranian troops fired artillery shells at border villages inside Iraq,” mayor Azad Wassu, under whose jurisdiction the villages fall, told AFP, adding the attack lasted 30 minutes and seven villages were hit. He added residents were terrified by the shelling.
Zarawah is near the major town of Qalat Dizhan, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of the city of Sulaimaniyah in IraqÂ’s autonomous Kurdish region.
Iran in September confirmed for the first time it had fired artillery shells on camps of Kurdish militants inside northern Iraq, saying the local authorities had heeded its warnings. The shelling, in August, sent hundreds of Iraqi Kurds fleeing remote mountain villages near IraqÂ’s eastern frontier.
Pejak is linked to TurkeyÂ’s outlawed Kurdistan WorkersÂ’ Party (PKK).