Iran Claims Attack On Israeli Spy Base In Kurdistan (photos)
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say they have attacked the “espionage headquarters” of Israel in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, state media has reported, while the elite force said they had also struck Islamic State targets in Syria.
“Ballistic missiles were used to destroy espionage centers and gatherings of anti-Iranian terrorist groups in the region late tonight,” Iran’s Guards said in a statement late on Monday, naming Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
In addition to those strikes near Kurdistan’s capital Erbil, the Guards said they launched attacks in Syria against the “perpetrators of terrorist operations” in Iran, including the Islamic State.
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Explosions were heard in an area 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Erbil in the Kurdistan region, three security sources said, in a neighbourhood near the US consulate as well as civilian residences.
The US state department condemned the attacks near Erbil as “reckless” and said they “undermine Iraq’s stability”.
“We support the government of Iraq and the Kurdistan regional government’s efforts to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people,” state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
No US facilities were affected by the missiles strikes, two US officials told the Reuters news agency earlier.
At least four civilians were killed and six injured in the strikes on Erbil, the Kurdistan government’s security council said in a statement, describing the attack as a “crime”.
Multimillionaire Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee and several members of his family were among the dead, killed when at least one rocket crashed into their home, Iraqi security and medical sources said.
Dizayee, who was close to the region’s ruling elite, owned businesses that led major real estate projects in Kurdistan.
Additionally, one rocket had fallen on the house of a senior Kurdish intelligence official and another on a Kurdish intelligence centre, the security sources said.
Reuters could not independently verify any of the reports. Israeli government officials were not reachable for immediate comment.
Air traffic at Erbil airport was halted, the security sources said.
Iran has in the past sometimes carried out strikes in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, saying the area is used as a staging ground for Iranian separatist groups as well as agents of its foe Israel.
Baghdad has tried to address Iranian concerns over separatist groups in the mountainous border region, moving to relocate some members as part of a security agreement reached with Tehran in 2023.
Earlier this month, Islamic State claimed responsibility for two explosions in Iran’s southeastern Kerman city that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores at a memorial for top commander Qassem Suleimani.
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