> Kurdish rebels in Iraq threaten to attack Iran
> 1 day ago
>
> MOUNT QANDIL, Iraq (AFP) - A Kurdish rebel group based in northern Iraq
> threatened on Sunday to launch bomb attacks inside Iran if Tehran fails to
> halt anti-Kurdish policies in the Islamic country.
>
> Pejak (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan) warned it has the ability to "carry
> out bombings against Iranian forces" inside Iran.
>
> Ronahi Ahmed, a member of Pejak's political bureau, told AFP from the
> group's hideout in Qandil mountain in northern Iraq that the rebels were
> ready for a long fight with Tehran.
>
> "We can't stand handcuffed when Iran is chasing us on daily basis. We have
> the ability to confront Iran inside Tehran. We are not accepting any threat
> from anybody," she said.
>
> "We don't accept the religious suppression that is being carried out by the
> Iranians. We totally reject it."
>
> Ahmed said the group had recently attacked Iranian forces across the border.
>
> "Last month our people were able to infiltrate Mahkook town in northwest
> Iran. They killed dozens of Iranian soldiers. In another incident in Iran's
> Miryuwan town our guerrillas killed six soldiers," she said.
>
> "Iran should be aware that we have a long arm that can strike at significant
> places inside Iran, especially in the northwest reaching Tehran."
>
> The Iranian military often shells Iraqi border villages in an attempt to
> flush out Kurdish guerrillas, sending residents fleeing from their homes.
>
> Pejak is an anti-Iranian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a
> Kurdish rebel movement fighting to carve out an independent state in
> southeastern Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has killed more than
> 37,000 people.
>
> The PKK and Ankara's troops fought fierce battles in March inside Iraq after
> Turkey launched a ground offensive.
>
> "If they (Iran) continue to follow the policy of (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad, then
> the battle will be more severe and the region where we are staying will be
> hit by a war," Ahmed said.
>
> Tehran alleges that Washington supports Pejak in its fight against Iran, but
> Ahmed denied the allegation.
>
> "We have no relations with the Americans and Iran's claim that we have an
> alliance with America is not true. America does not back or fund us. We
> depend on supplies from our own people," she said.
>
> Ahmed's statement comes as mystery still surrounds an explosion in a mosque
> in Iran's southern city of Shiraz on Saturday that killed 11 people and
> wounded at least 191.
>
> Some officials insist the blast was accidental, but others said it could
> have been caused by a bomb.
>
>