Two more Iranian guards killed in clashes with Kurdish rebels

Kurdish rebel group Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) killed two more members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) on Wednesday in Sardasht in north-western Iran, the Press TV news network reported on its website.

PJAK members last week killed a commander and five senior IRGC personnel in the same area bordering northern Iraq.

Press TV reported that the IRGC, which has deployed 5,000 military personnel to the border of Iraqi Kurdistan, killed over 55 PJAK rebels in recent clashes.

During the clashes, the Iranian forces have also crossed over into Iraq in pursuit of the rebels.

On Saturday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the charge d'affaires of the German Embassy in Tehran to protest the residence of PJAK leader Rahman Haji Ahmadi in Germany.

Tehran further criticized the German government's "double-standard" on the issue of terrorism.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi called on his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle to put Haji Ahmadi, who reportedly lives in Cologne, on trial and not allow him organize terrorist attacks against Iran.

Iranian Kurds, estimated to number around 7 million, mainly live in the provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah and Kurdistan which border Turkey and northern Iraq.

A minority of Kurds in Iran have been at odds with the government in Tehran for decades, seeking autonomy in Kurdish-populated provinces and aiming for an alliance with Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and Syria.

Kurds are Sunni Muslims, while the majority of the Iranian population are Shiites. Sunnis make up about 10 per cent of Iran's population.


/Trend/