The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) has confirmed its forces fired six ground-to-ground missiles at the Koya on Saturday, according to the IRGC-linked Tabnak news agency.
“The forces of the Revolutionary Guards have targeted the military positions near the town of Koya, located 200 kilometers from the Iranian border,” the IRGC said, according to Tabnak.
The first missile hit the headquarters at 10:42 a.m. while around 40 of its members were meeting to discuss preparations. So far, 14 of its members are known to have died, but others buried under the rubble are yet to be identified.
Iraqi Intelligence has seen evidence of large, modern missiles and weaponry transferred to the Haji Omoaran border crossing several days ago. The missiles were reportedly fired from a site near the crossing.
People gather at the headquarters , heavily damaged in a deadly Iranian missile strike on Saturday. Photo: Rudaw
The party's Peshmerga fighters at the site of Iranian bombardment of Erbil's Koya town, Sep. 8, 2018. (Photo: Shorsh Ghafuri)
Bombardment ‘martyred’ 14 members of the two parties and injured 40 more. The Secretary of KDP-I, Mustafa Mawludi, and his predecessor, Khalid Azizi, were also among those wounded during the attack.
The party also revealed the identities of the fallen members, which were: Karim Mahdawi (Karim Saqzi), Ibrahim Ibrahimi (Braim Zewayi), Nasrin Hadad, Rahman Piroti, Suhaila Qadri, Hashim Azizi, Osman Osmani, Karim Rasulzada (Mam Sherko), Hawre Karsaz (Hawre Shekhani), Peshawa Said Omar, Jamal Akbari, and Mansour Akbaripur.
A Peshmerga member of the Kurdish party stands guard by their headquarters after a rocket attack in Koya, 100 kilometers east of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, Sep. 8, 2018. (Photo: AFP)
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday labeled Iran’s bombardment of the Kurdistan Region’s town of Koya a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
“The Ministry affirms Iraq’s keenness for the security of its neighbors and its refusal to allow its territory to be used to threaten the security of those countries. It [Iraq], however, categorically rejects the violation of Iraqi sovereignty by bombing any target within Iraqi territory without prior coordination with the Iraqi authorities, to spare civilians of the effects of such operations,” Ahmed Mahjoub, spokesperson for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
On Saturday morning, Iranian rockets
targeted the headquarters of two Kurdish opposition groups, as well as an Iranian Kurdish refugee camp in the Kurdistan Region’s Koya town.
