ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Four separate Iranian attacks targeted Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region, leaving one injured, amid continued Iranian retaliatory attacks after the killing of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a day earlier.

“Two large explosions were heard in Kurdistan Region’s Koya and surrounding areas, near the bases of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties. No casualties or material damage have been reported, and further investigation is underway,” Koya’s district mayor Tariq Haydari told The New Region.

The attacks in Koya targeted a base belonging to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), while other reports suggest that a separate drone attack targeted the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) base in Erbil’s Pirde area. Both attacks were intercepted by air defense systems and did not lead to any casualties. 

Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani province witnessed two separate attacks on bases of the Iranian Kurdish opposition groups.

A missile and a suicide drone struck the Komala party in Sulaimani’s Zirgwez area, with one injury reported, while another suicide drone targeted the town of Surdash, which was detected and destroyed in the air without hitting its target. 

The offensive took place simultaneously with several loud booms near Erbil International Airport, as air defense systems intercepted the projectiles. The airport houses US troops stationed in Erbil and has been the target of repeated Iranian strikes since the breakout of the war.

Earlier on Sunday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a warning to “separatist elements” in the country, saying any mobilization would lead to their “complete destruction.”

PAK announced on Saturday that its forces had engaged in clashes against the IRGC in western Iran’s (Rojhelat) Kermanshah province.

The US and Israel on Saturday morning launched a large-scale military offensive across Iran. The strikes have killed Khamenei, in addition to several other top Iranian officials. The offensive came following months of escalating tensions between the two sides. 

Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani said Sunday that the United States and Israel have “set the heart of the Iranian nation ablaze,” after Khamenei was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike the day prior, vowing that Tehran will strike its enemies “with a force never seen before.”

Five Iranian Kurdish opposition groups announced a joint coalition a week ago, vowing to topple the Islamic Republic, realize the Kurdish people’s right of self-determination, and establish a democratic political system.

The dissident parties, many of whom are based in the Kurdistan Region, have long been military targets for Iran, drawing concerns from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over the Region’s security.

In 2023, Iraq and Iran signed a security agreement under which Baghdad pledged to disarm and relocate these Iranian Kurdish opposition groups from border areas, following repeated warnings from Tehran.