Iraq Kurds Demand Iran Respect Border after Clashes

Iran must respect its borders with Iraq, authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan said on Tuesday, after Tehran's forces clashed with Iranian Kurdish rebels, leaving several dead.

Iran said it had taken "full control" of three camps belonging to the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, a claim disputed by Baghdad.

"We demand Iran respect the sovereignty of the Kurdistan region as part of the sovereignty of Iraq," Kurdistan regional government spokesman Qawa Mahmoud told Agence France Presse.

"There was Iranian infiltration along the Iraqi border. If there is any border problem, the best way to resolve it is through negotiations and peace, not by bombing civilians."

The fighting, which began on Saturday and appears to have ceased, has left at least one member of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards dead and three wounded, according to security officials in Tehran.

PJAK, meanwhile, says two of its fighters were killed and four wounded.

On July 11, Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted a senior Iranian army official as saying Tehran reserves the right to attack PJAK bases within Iraq.

"The terrorists will not be allowed to take sanctuary in Iraq's territory and attack Iran with the support of America and the Zionist regime," the official said. "Action will be taken against these terrorists."

Iranian forces regularly shell border districts of Iraq's Kurdish region, targeting PJAK bases.

Later on Tuesday, a senior officer in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard's demanded that the Baghdad government and Kurdish authorities in Iraq prevent Kurdish rebels from attacking Iran from Iraqi territory.

"We are waiting for the Iraqi government and the Kurdish authorities in Iraq to stick to their commitments and prevent PJAK rebels from acting against Iran from Iraqi territory," General Mohammad Pakpour said during an interview with Arabic television channel Al-Alam.

Over the past 72 hours, the rebels have taken heavy losses in the Al-Watan region," said General Pakpour, head of the guards' ground forces. He added that "PJAK camps in the region of Jassukan had been destroyed and that journalists could go there to see."

He also denied any shelling of Kurdish villagers, explaining that the target area "is uninhabited."