Iran Launches New Strikes on Kurdish Sites

A photo distributed by Fars News Agency shows an Iranian rocket launched towards Kurdistan last Thursday (AFP)
A photo distributed by Fars News Agency shows an Iranian rocket launched towards Kurdistan last Thursday (AFP)
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Iran Launches New Strikes on Kurdish Sites

A photo distributed by Fars News Agency shows an Iranian rocket launched towards Kurdistan last Thursday (AFP)
A photo distributed by Fars News Agency shows an Iranian rocket launched towards Kurdistan last Thursday (AFP)

Iran renewed bombing of sites in the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, said an official from Komala Iranian-Kurdish opposition.

Atta Nasser said that the Iranian forces launched artillery fire and drone strikes on bases used by exiled Iranian group Komala in the Mount Halgurd area, near the Iranian border.

The strikes "destroyed some outposts, without causing casualties among our ranks," Nasser said.

On Thursday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced they would continue their attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan against the Iranian-Kurdish opposition.

For more than a week, Iran has launched sporadic strikes in northern Iraq, the most violent of which was on Wednesday, with more than 70 missiles and drone strikes in the autonomous region, targeting Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups.

At least 14 people, including a pregnant woman, were killed in the attacks, and 50 others were injured, mostly civilians.

The IRGC said in a statement that it launched a series of operations targeting terrorists in Iraq with "precision missiles" and "suicide drones."

The attacks come as unrest continues across Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman.

Meanwhile, Iraqi President Barham Salih confirmed the Iranian bombing was a serious escalation and a violation of the country's sovereignty, security, stability, and safety of its citizens.

Salih met with National Security Advisor Qassim al-Araji to discuss the recent developments in politics and security-related matters in Iraq.

He also condemned the continued Turkish shelling of the Kurdish area, emphasizing that it is not sustainable or acceptable and has to be ceased immediately to prevent its ramifications.

The meeting reiterated the need to follow up on the security issues with high-level officials of neighboring countries, describing it as a "serious escalation."

They reiterated the need to promote dialogue and for Iraq and its neighbors to address the security challenges, noting that it should be based on shared security interests and in ways that would maintain Iraq's sovereignty and safeguard its citizens.

Earlier, Iraq summoned Iran's ambassador to hand over a worded note of protest to the Iranian government.

Iraq's note of protest said it "condemns this crime in continuous aggression by the Iranian forces against Iraq's sovereignty and territorial sanctity," the Foreign Ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry said the attack was a "dangerous development that threatens Iraq's security and sovereignty."

It is not yet clear whether Iraq will protest at the UN Security Council or will be satisfied with the position expressed by the protest letter.

However, linking the Iranian bombing with the continuation of Turkish shelling of Iraqi areas is a new Iraqi position in terms of dealing with both countries.



Fleeing Pakistan, Afghans Rebuild from Nothing

Afghan men travel in auto rickshaws in the city of Jalalabad on April 21, 2025. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)
Afghan men travel in auto rickshaws in the city of Jalalabad on April 21, 2025. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)
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Fleeing Pakistan, Afghans Rebuild from Nothing

Afghan men travel in auto rickshaws in the city of Jalalabad on April 21, 2025. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)
Afghan men travel in auto rickshaws in the city of Jalalabad on April 21, 2025. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)

Pushed out of Pakistan where she was born, Nazmine Khan's first experience of her country, Afghanistan, was in a sweltering tent at a border camp.

"We never thought we would return to Afghanistan," said the 15-year-old girl, who has little idea of what will become of her or her family, only that she is likely to have fewer freedoms.

"When our parents told us we had to leave, we cried," added Khan.

Having nowhere to go in Afghanistan, she and six other family members shared a stifling tent in the Omari camp near the Torkham border point.

Islamabad, accusing Afghans of links to narcotics and "supporting terrorism", announced a new campaign in March to expel hundreds of thousands of Afghans, with or without documents.

Many had lived in Pakistan for decades after fleeing successive wars and crises but did not wait to be arrested by Pakistani forces before leaving, seeing their removal as inevitable.

Since April 1, more than 92,000 Afghans have been sent back to their country of origin, according to Islamabad, out of the some three million the United Nations says are living in Pakistan.

Khan's family fled Afghanistan in the 1960s. Her four brothers and sister were also born in Pakistan.

"In a few days we'll look for a place to rent" in the border province of Nangarhar where the family has roots, she told AFP, speaking in Pakistan's commonly spoken tongue of Urdu, not knowing any Afghan languages.

In the family's tent there is little more than a cloth to lie on and a few cushions, but no mattress or blanket. Flies buzz under the tarpaulin as countless children in ragged clothes come and go.

- 'Already suffering' -

When it comes to her own future, Khan feels "completely lost", she said.

Having dropped out of school in Pakistan, the Taliban authorities' ban on girls studying beyond primary school will hardly change the course of her life.

But from what little she heard about her country while living in eastern Pakistan's Punjab, she knows that "here there are not the same freedoms".

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban authorities have imposed restrictions on women characterized by the UN as "gender apartheid".

Women have been banned from universities, parks, gyms and beauty salons and squeezed from many jobs.

"It is now a new life... for them, and they are starting this with very little utilities, belongings, cash, support," said Ibrahim Humadi, program lead for non-governmental group Islamic Relief, which has set up about 200 tents for returnees in the Omari camp.

Some stay longer than the three days offered on arrival, not knowing where to go with their meager savings, he said.

"They also know that even in their area of return, the community will be welcoming them, will be supporting them... but they know also the community are already suffering from the situation in Afghanistan," he added.

Around 85 percent of the Afghan population lives on less than one dollar a day, according to the United Nations Development Program.

"We had never seen (Afghanistan) in our lives. We do not know if we can find work, so we are worried," said Jalil Khan Mohamedin, 28, as he piled belongings -- quilts, bed frames and fans -- into a truck that will take the 16 members of his family to the capital Kabul, though nothing awaits them there.

- 'Still don't understand'

The Taliban authorities have said they are preparing towns specifically for returnees.

But at one site near Torkham, there is nothing more than cleared roads on a rocky plain.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) believes "greater clarity" is needed to ensure that the sites intended for returnees are "viable" in terms of basic infrastructure and services such as health and education.

It's important that "returnees are making informed decisions and that their relocation to the townships is voluntary", communications officer Avand Azeez Agha told AFP.

Looking dazed, Khan's brother Dilawar still struggles to accept leaving Pakistan, where he was born 25 years ago.

His Pakistani wife did not want to follow him and asked for a divorce.

"When we crossed the border, we felt like going back, then after a day it felt fine," said the former truck driver.

"We still don't understand. We were only working."