Kurdish Rebel Group Said it Had Shot Down
Military Helicopter
TEHRAN, Reuters- Feb 25, 2007- An Iranian
military helicopter crashed near the border with Turkey and Iraqi-Kurdistan on
Saturday, killing at least one Revolutionary Guards commander, Iranian news
agencies said.
Eight other people were on board the aircraft when it came down, the
semi-official Mehr agency said, but it was not immediately clear whether those
eight were killed or injured in the crash.
"This morning while on a mission in the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan
the commander Saeed Ghahari was martyred in a helicopter crash," the
semi-official Fars news agency Fars said without giving a source.
An Iranian Kurdish rebel group said it had shot down the aircraft, the
Brussels-based Kurdish news agency Firat said.
It said the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an Iranian offshoot of the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which is fighting Turkey, shot down the helicopter
with a shoulder-held missile, killing eight soldiers and capturing one.
Iran's official IRNA news agency said 17 rebels were killed by the Revolutionary
Guards during the mission in the province before the crash.
Clashes between Iranian forces and PJAK militants have been reported in recent
weeks in the region where the borders of Iran, Turkey and Iraq meet. PJAK rebels
have bases in the remote mountains of Kurdistan region (northeastern Iraq) from
where they launch attacks.
Various Iranian Kurdish rebel groups have fought a low-level conflict against
Tehran for many decades claiming neglect and discrimination by central
government.
Iran operates an ageing fleet of aircraft mostly dating from before the 1979
Islamic Revolution.
