Two Peshmerga Killed, Four Wounded in Drone Strikes on Iranian Kurdish Opposition in Kurdistan Region

Peregraf - Drone strikes hit bases belonging to the Khabat Organization of Iranian Kurdistan in the Bashik highlands and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan in Koya on Friday afternoon, killing two named peshmerga fighters and wounding four others, according to Kurdish rights monitor Hengaw and a statement by the Khabat organization's Central Committee.

Drone strikes hit bases of two Iranian Kurdish opposition parties on Friday afternoon, killing two peshmerga fighters and wounding four others. Kurdish rights monitor Hengaw reported the attacks, and the Central Committee of the Khabat Organization of Iranian Kurdistan confirmed them in an official statement published on the organization's Facebook page.

According to the Khabat statement, one of the organization's peshmerga bases in the Bashik highlands was struck in the attack. Kurdish rights monitor Hengaw additionally reported that two bases belonging to the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) were hit in Koya, a town approximately 80 kilometers east of Erbil.

The Khabat Central Committee identified the two killed peshmerga as Iqbal Salihi, from the city of Saqqez, and Fakhredin Muradi, from the city of Sanandaj. Four other peshmerga were wounded in the same strike, the statement said. Hengaw also confirmed the two deaths.

Images published by the Khabat organization on its official social media accounts showed one of the targeted facilities reduced to rubble and ash, with structural beams collapsed and debris scattered across the site.

The Khabat Organization of Iranian Kurdistan was founded on August 27, 1980, and is currently led by Secretary-General Baba Sheikh Hosseini. It operates from bases in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), founded on August 16, 1945, in Mahabad, is the oldest Kurdish party advocating self-determination for Kurds in Iran and is currently led by Secretary-General Mustafa Hijri. Both organizations are members of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan, an alliance of major Iranian Kurdish opposition parties formed on February 22, 2026.

Strikes on Iranian Kurdish opposition bases in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have occurred repeatedly over recent years. In September 2018, a missile attack on the PDKI's Democrat Castle compound in Koya killed 13 people and wounded dozens more. Similar strikes took place in 2022, targeting multiple party headquarters across the Kurdistan Region.