ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An unidentified group of gunmen on Tuesday fired on an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vehicle, reportedly killing three members of the military and severely injuring a fourth near the entrance of a Kurdish town in Iran’s West Azerbaijan Province.
“A car carrying fighters of the Hamza Saiyid-al-Shohada base…was attacked at the entrance area of Piranshahr by terrorists affiliated with global arrogance,” the military facility said in a statement, adding that three members were killed while another was injured.
The clash marks yet another deadly incident that has occurred near Iran’s western border areas in recent weeks.
It is unclear which group the alleged attackers belong.
Moreover, “global arrogance” is a sweeping term Tehran uses to refer to all opposition groups, which they claim Western powers back, more specifically, the United States.
Last week, another unidentified group and IRGC forces clashed north of Piranshahr and in the same province, with the IRGC confirming two deaths from either side.
In a separate incident close to the same area, Chaldoran County, government forces killed one fighter and injured two others late last month.
The rising number of such clashes comes amid spiking tensions between Iran and the US, which began its “maximum pressure campaign” against Tehran last year when it withdrew from the nuclear deal Iran signed with major world powers that sought to curb the country’s nuclear activities in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany