Kurdistan attack suspects shot dead
Iranian security forces are reported to have killed two men tied to Thursday’s attack in Sanandaj that left five dead.
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| Kurdistan province has witnessed frequent clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and security forces |
Iranian security forces have killed two people suspected of involvement in Thursday’s attack on a police patrol that left five people dead in the capital of Kurdistan province.
“Two main elements behind the terrorist incident in Sanandaj were killed after they were chased by security forces,” Iran’s state-run IRIB news agency reported on Friday.
Fars news agency also reported the incident, calling the two men “terrorists”.
A provincial official blamed Thursday’s attack, in which nine others were wounded, on “anti-revolutionary” elements.
Kurdistan province bordering Iraq has been the scene of frequent clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian security forces.
Like neighbouring Iraq and Turkey, Iran has a large Kurdish minority, mainly living in the northwest and west. Iran is a mainly Shia Muslim country, but most Kurds are Sunni Muslims.
A bombing during an annual military parade in the Kurdish city of Mahabad in September killed 12 people and injured 80. Iranian authorities blamed it on “anti-revolutionary” militants backed by the United States and Israel.