Reuters: Iranian security forces have killed two people suspected on involvement in a shoot out with a police patrol that killed five in the capital of Iran’s Kurdistan province, a news agency reported on Friday.
TEHRAN, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Iranian security forces have killed two people suspected on involvement in a shoot out with a police patrol that killed five in the capital of Iran’s Kurdistan province, a news agency reported on Friday.
A provincial official blamed Thursday’s attack, in which nine others were wounded, on “anti-revolutionary” elements. Kurdistan province bordering Iraq is the scene of frequent clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian security forces.
“Two main elements behind the terrorist incident in Sanandaj were killed after they were chased by security forces,” the website of state-run television IRIB reported on Friday. Police were looking for more suspects.
Like neighbouring Iraq and Turkey, Iran has a large Kurdish minority, mainly living in the northwest and west. Iran is a mainly Shi’ite Muslim country, but most Kurds are Sunni Muslims.
A bombing during an annual military parade in the Kurdish city of Mahabad in September killed 12 people and injured 80. Iranian authorities blamed it on “anti-revolutionary” militants backed by the United States and Israel.