A Kurdish military commander from the Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan was killed in an ambush by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) near the border village of Piran-e Kohneh in Marivan, Kurdistan Province, on 19 September, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.
Following the ambush, IRGC forces shelled parts of the region’s highlands until midday, causing widespread fires.
Environmental activists, including members of the local Chya the Green Organisation, said their efforts to reach the affected areas had been blocked by the IRGC, leaving the fire still burning.
The ambush, which took place at around 03:00 local time, led to several hours of clashes and heavy gunfire, during which Rebwar Karimian, a senior figure in the military wing of Komala and a member of the party’s central committee, was killed.
Karimian’s body was later taken by the IRGC to Bouali Hospital in Marivan.
The confrontation followed the Komala’s refusal to move to refugee camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, as required by a security agreement between Iran and Iraq aimed at disarming Kurdish opposition groups.
Marivan and the villages around the site have since been heavily militarised and tensions are rising as security forces maintain a heavy presence in the area.
The Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan confirmed Karimian’s death in an official statement, while Iranian state media published pictures of his body.
