TEHRAN, 19 August 2007 — Six members of the Iranian security forces were killed and five injured in a helicopter crash during an operation near the Iraqi border, the official IRNA news agency reported yesterday. “The armed forces’ helicopter crashed due to a technical problem and bad weather conditions during a border maneuver on Friday near Piranshahr,” a town around 10 kilometers from the Iraqi border, IRNA said.
The agency did not identify the forces involved or give further details on the maneuvers. However, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported that the victims were members of the elite Revolutionary Guards who were fighting the Kurdish rebel group Pejak near Piranshahr, which lies in West Azarbaijan province.
An official from the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said in neighboring Iraq that the chopper had been shot down by an allied Kurdish Iranian group he described as the Hayat Al-Hur (Free Life). Speaking in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah on condition of anonymity, he also claimed the rebels had killed 15 members of the Iranian security forces in ground clashes. The claims could not be independently verified.
Iran’s northwestern West Azerbaijan province, which borders Turkey and Iraq, is the scene of regular deadly clashes between Iranian security forces and Pejak and other militant Kurdish separatists linked to Turkey’s outlawed PKK. In February, 14 Iranian military personnel, including two Revolutionary Guards commanders, were killed in a helicopter crash during an operation against rebels close to the border.
