Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it killed five members of the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party near the border triangle with Turkey and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, as a booby-trapped drone targeted a camp of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group east of Erbil, in the latest security escalation spanning both sides of the border.

Iranian state media quoted the Revolutionary Guard on Thursday as saying the group was ambushed after entering Iranian territory through mountainous border areas near the city of Piranshahr in West Azerbaijan province. The Guard did not specify the timing of the operation.

The Norway-based Iranian Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw reported that the clashes occurred on Wednesday evening. Reports also spoke of continued armed confrontations until dawn on Thursday around the cities of Piranshahr and Sardasht.

Hengaw and Hanna, two human rights organizations that monitor news in Kurdish areas of Iran, said the clashes resulted in the deaths of a number of people.

Hanna reported that Revolutionary Guard forces used heavy weapons, adding that the confrontations took place near residential areas it described as 'densely populated with civilians'.

News sources close to the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party said five of its members were killed on Wednesday evening during an armed clash with Revolutionary Guard forces near the village of Qezqapan in the vicinity of Piranshahr.

Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Fars news agency, in a brief report without details, said six members of the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party were killed in the clashes.

The Sabreen News channel, the media platform of the Quds Force on Telegram, which is described as close to Iranian authorities, also confirmed the confrontations and claimed that 11 members of opposition groups were killed in two separate clashes.

It was not possible to independently verify the death tolls or determine whether the different accounts refer to a single confrontation or separate operations that occurred in the border area during the same period.

Commander of the Revolutionary Guard's Ground Unit Mohammad Karami inspects the border with the Kurdistan Region in the northwest of the country last April (Archive - Fars)

Ambush near Piranshahr

The Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party has fought intermittent confrontations with the Islamic Republic for decades, while Tehran has long viewed armed Kurdish opposition groups as a security threat in the western and northwestern provinces.

During the recent war with Tehran, American and Israeli expectations that armed Kurdish groups would play a ground role against Iran quickly faded, amid conflicting messages from Washington and Israel, and Iranian threats and strikes targeting Kurdish sites inside Iraq, prompting those groups to avoid extensive involvement in the fighting.

State media had reported a similar incident near Piranshahr on Tuesday, in which the Revolutionary Guard said it killed six members of a Kurdish opposition group, as reported by Reuters.

The headquarters of Hamza Sayyid al-Shuhada, which oversees Revolutionary Guard operations in the Kurdish provinces of western Iran, said the clash occurred in the highlands between Mahabad and Piranshahr, 'supported by heavy weapons fire.' The headquarters added that 'the group of six people was completely destroyed,' according to its statement.

In contrast, the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) announced the deaths of four of its members during a clash with Revolutionary Guard forces.

Iranian Kurdish fighters train at a base near Erbil in northern Iraq on February 12, 2026 (Archive - Reuters)

Attack east of Erbil

The confrontations inside Iran coincided with a booby-trapped drone attack that targeted, in the early hours of Thursday, a camp of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group in the Koya Sanjaq district east of Erbil, according to Iraqi security sources.

The sources told Reuters that the attack sparked a fire inside the camp, with no immediate information on casualties or the responsible party.

The Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party had announced on Wednesday evening that one of its camps, known as 'Digleh,' in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was targeted by a drone.

Meanwhile, Fars news agency, citing 'local sources,' reported several explosions in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, and said a headquarters of the Freedom Party was targeted by a ballistic missile. No independent confirmation of this account has been issued.

The attack came less than a week after another camp of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group north of Erbil was targeted by a booby-trapped drone on June 27.

Iraqi security sources told Reuters that the camp had been recently evacuated and that the attack resulted in no injuries.

In recent days, Iranian security officials have renewed their demand for the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional authorities to end the presence of armed Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the region's territory.

Tehran accuses these groups of carrying out attacks inside Iran's western provinces, particularly Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan.

In recent months, the Revolutionary Guard has launched repeated missile and drone attacks on sites of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups inside the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, most of them concentrated around Erbil.

The renewed strikes on camps inside the region coincided with a series of attacks targeting Revolutionary Guard members and Iranian security forces inside Kurdish areas in western Iran.

Three days earlier, two Revolutionary Guard members were killed and two others wounded in a shooting that occurred on Monday evening in the city of Paveh in Kermanshah province, near the border with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Iranian state television reported on Tuesday that the two members were shot dead in front of their homes in what was described as a 'cowardly terrorist act.'

It added that 'relevant authorities are studying the exact circumstances of the incident, as well as the necessary measures to identify those responsible.'

Iranian authorities did not immediately announce the identity of the perpetrators of the attack.

Hengaw said a newly established armed Kurdish group claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying the operation was in response to the Revolutionary Guard's involvement in suppressing protests that took place in Iran between 2022 and 2023.

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