On September 8, heavy Iranian rockets stuck the headquarters of two Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in the northern Iraqi town of Koya.
The KDPI said that the Iranian rocket strike targeted a conference held by the political office of the party and a nearby refugee camp. According to the Kurdish group, 11 people were killed and up to 30 others were wounded in the rocket strike. Kurdish activists revealed that most of the casualties were members and officials of the KDPI and the PDKI.
Video footage of Iran’s use of long-range missiles in attack against PDKI’s bases and adjacent refugee camps in Koya, Iraqi Kurdistan.#PDKI #rojhelat #Kurdistan #twitterkurds pic.twitter.com/uTDm7RK0Av
— PDKI (@PDKIenglish) September 8, 2018
Meanwhile, Babak Taghvaee, an Iranian defense analyst, said that the Iranian-made Zelzal precision guided artillery rockets and an unspecified type of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were used in the attack on the Kurdish parties in Koya. The rockets were reportedly launched by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from a large base in the southern part of Iran.
Here is the second video which shows launch of the Zelzal precision guided artillery rockets at the #HDKI HQ in #Koya, N. #Iraq, from an #IRGC base in #Iran. #AliJavanmardi, the notorious journalist of @VOANews falsely claims that these rockets are launched by #PMU from S. #Iraq! pic.twitter.com/6wWFhS9twM
— Babak Taghvaee – Μπάπακ Τακβαίε – بابک تقوایی (@BabakTaghvaee) September 8, 2018
Several Iranian activists said that the rocket strike was a response to a recent attack of the PDKI, in which several personnel of the Iran Border Guard were killed. The PDKI and the KDPI were planning to launch more attacks in the upcoming days, according to the activists.
The Iranian rocket strike was also viewed as a show of force and a message to the country’s enemies, especially that the rockets hit its targets with an impressive precision.
