Iran's genocide against Kurds

Iran launches fresh strikes on Iraqi Kurdistan amid protests

Kurdish officials say Iranian drones targeted a Kurdish-Iranian dissident group, killing nine people. The attacks come during domestic unrest in Iran following the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody.

    

Iraqi-Kurdish sources said drone strikes targeted at least 10 military bases belonging to an Iranian-Kurdish opposition group

Iran targeted an opposition group in the Iraqi Kurdistan region with drone bombing, killing at least nine people and wounding 32, the Kurdish Regional Government's Health Ministry announced on Wednesday.

The strikes against the Iranian-Kurdish group came as Iran was pushed into unrest triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, died in custody after she was arrested by the Islamic Republic's notorious morality police. 

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What do we know about the strikes?

Iran's Revolutionary Guard used "precision missiles" and "suicide drones," state-run news agency IRNA said, adding that they were targeting the bases of a separatist group in the north of Iraq.

The leftist armed opposition force the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, known by the acronym KDPI, condemned the attack. 

"These cowardly attacks are occurring at a time when the terrorist regime of Iran is unable to crack down on ongoing protests inside and silence the Kurdish and Iranian peoples' civil resistance," the KDPI said. 

According to a KDPI member, the attack targeted Koya, some 65 kilometers (35 miles) east of Irbil.

The federal Iraqi government and the regional Kurdish government also condemned the strikes. 

"The Iranian ambassador to Baghdad will be summoned urgently, to deliver a letter of protest in a very harsh tone to him about the bombardments" against autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Sahaf said in a statement.

What is happening in Iran?

Women-led protests in Iran continued for a 12th consecutive night on Tuesday, opposition media said. 

Dozens of people have been killed in the unrest that erupted after Amini's death, and police arrested over 1,200 people. 

Police on Wednesday warned that they would confront the protests "with all their might." 

Iran's hardline President Ebrahim Raisi was expected to address the nation later on Wednesday. 

Iranian authorities are believed to have restricted internet access in a bid to hamper gatherings and organization, as well as prevent footage of their crackdown from circulating. 

Several Western countries have showed support for the protests and called on Iran to investigate Amini's death.

On Wednesday, Spain summoned the Iranian ambassador "to express its objection over the repression of the protests and the violation of women's rights," a diplomatic source was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. 

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