2004 The PJAK group's first armed attack took place in 2004 in the area of the city of
Marivan in
Kurdistan province, after Iranian security forces fired on a protestors killing 10 people. The protests erupted following the killing of an activist by Iranian security forces in the city of
Mahabad on July 9. More riots followed in October 2005.
2006 In February 2006, 10 protestors were killed by police in the city of Maku. On April 10, 2006, seven PJAK members were arrested in Iran, on suspicion that they killed three Iranian security force personnel. Shortly afterward, on April 21, and again a week later, Iranian troops fired nearly 100 artillery shells at PJAK positions near Mount Qandil and briefly crossed the Iraqi border, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. Following this, the
Iranian military retaliated with bombardments on suspected PJAK positions in US-occupied Iraq along the Iranian border. A number of civilians died as a result. The PKK's Roj TV claimed that PJAK troops killed four Iranian soldiers on May 27, in a clash near the town of Maku in Iranian Kurdistan. Following the clash, a PJAK spokesman inside Iraq declared an immediate, unilateral ceasefire.
2007 On February 24, 2007 an Iranian helicopter crashed near the town of
Khoy, killing 13 soldiers, including several members of the elite Revolutionary Guards and Said Qahari, the head of the Iranian army's 3rd Corps. PJAK quickly claimed to have shot down the helicopter using a shoulder-launched missile, killing 20 soldiers, including several senior officers, during an hour-long battle. Iran, however, blamed the crash on bad weather. After that, Iran launched a
counter-offensive against the group in the northeast of Iran's
West Azerbaijan province, near the Turkish border. According to Iran's state news agencies as many as 47 Kurdish rebels and 17 Iranian soldiers were killed in the violence between February 25 and March 1, 2007. According to Kurdish officials, Iranian troops raided northern Iraq on August 23, 2007, inspecting several villages suspected of being PJAK strongholds.
2008 The Iranian news agency IRNA reported on October 11, 2008 that members of the paramilitary
Basij units killed four PJAK militants in a clash close to the Iraqi border. In August 2008, under Iranian pressure, one of Iraqi Kurdistan's ruling parties, the
PUK, launched an offensive against PJAK forces.
KDP-leader and
President of Iraqi Kurdistan,
Massoud Barzani condemned PJAK operations against Iran multiple times.
2009 On April 24, 2009, PJAK rebels
attacked a police station in
Kermanshah province. According to updated reports 18 policemen and 8 militants were killed in a fierce
gun battle. According to Iranian government sources, the attack resulted in 10 policemen and 10 militants being killed. Iran responded a week later by attacking PJAK positions along the border area of Panjwin inside
Iraq using helicopters. According to
Iraqi border guards officials, the area attacked by
Iran was not considered a stronghold of PJAK, that appeared to have been the target of the raid. According to the
ICRC, more than 800 Iraqi Kurds have been forced from their homes by the recent cross-border violence.
2010 In 2010, PJAK claimed responsibility for the deaths of 3
Revolutionary Guard soldiers in
Khoy. Earlier in the year Iranian police arrested a suspect in the killing of a prosecutor in the same region during clashes with "Kurdish militants." On 13 May 2010,
Iraqi and
Iranian
border guards exchanged gunfire near the border village of
Shamiran, after the Iranians mistook the Iraqis for members of PJAK. It was the first major incident between the two since December 2009, when Iran took control of a disputed
oil well. The gunfight lasted 90 minutes and an Iraqi officer was captured.
2011 On March 24, two Iranian police officers were killed and three others injured in two attacks in the city of
Sanandaj in
Kurdistan Province and on April 1 four border guards were killed and three others were wounded in an attack against a police station near the city of
Marivan. On April 4, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said the perpetrators of the previous attacks in Sanandaj were killed. Two militants affiliated to PJAK were reported to have been killed and another wounded by the IRIB TV website on June 19, 2011, in Iran's northwestern town of Chaldran in West Azerbaijan province. On 16 July 2011 the Iranian army launched a major
offensive against PJAK compounds in the mountainous regions of northern
Iraq. On July 17, the
Revolutionary Guard killed at least five PJAK members and captured one named Saman Naseem, in a raid that destroyed one of the group's headquarters in northwestern Iran. PJAK claimed 21 Iranian soldiers were killed in the clashes. Iranian authorities on the other hand confirmed their casualties at 1 killed and 3 injured while claiming to have inflicted "heavy losses" on the militants. They announced that they had captured three militant bases, one of which was identified as Marvan and was said to be the leading PJAK camp in the region. PJAK militants claimed that they only lost two fighters during the attack carried out by the Iranian forces. On July 20, PJAK killed 5
Revolutionary Guard members and one commander while Revolutionary Guard forces killed 35 PJAK fighters and captured several others during clashes on July 25. By July 26, more than 50 PJAK fighters and 8 Revolutionary Guards had been killed, and at least 100 PJAK fighters had been wounded according to Iranian sources, while over 800 people had been displaced by the fighting. At least 3 civilians were killed. During clashes in the Jasosan and Alotan heights the next day, Iranian forces claimed to have killed over 21 PJAK fighters, confirming that two Revolutionary Guards had been killed and two had been injured during the clashes. On July 29, suspected PJAK militants blew up the Iran-Turkey gas pipeline, which was repaired the next day. On August 1, Iranian forces killed 3 and arrested 4 of the militants said to be responsible for the attack, at least one of which was a Turkish citizen. On August 5, the leader of the
Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), Rahman Haj Ahmedi, claimed that more than 300 Iranian Revolutionary Guards had been killed in a series of ambushes, while acknowledging 16 loses. Iranian officials however, claimed to have killed over 150 PJAK forces during the operations, confirming the deaths of only 17 Revolutionary Guards. On August 8, 2011, Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi, the leader of PJAK, said the armed militant group is prepared to negotiate with Iran and maintained that Kurdish issues need to be solved through "peaceful means". In an exclusive interview with Rudaw, Haji Ahmadi acknowledged that in some cases compromise is inevitable and indicated that PJAK is willing to lay down its arms. He said fighting may not help Kurds secure "political and cultural rights" in Iran. On August 8, 2011,
Murat Karayılan, the leader of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) said they withdrew all PJAK fighters out of Iran and sent them to PKK camps in the Qandil mountains. He said they replaced PJAK forces on the Iranian border with PKK forces to prevent further clashes and called on Iran to end attacks because unlike the PJAK, the PKK was not at war with Iran. Karayılan released the following statement: "As the PKK, we have not declared any war against Iran. We do not wish to fight against the Islamic Republic of Iran either. Why? Because one of the aims of the international forces who seek to re-design the region is to besiege Iran. Currently, they are more preoccupied with Syria. If they just manage to work things out there as they wish, it will be Iran's turn next. As Kurds, we do not think it quite right to be involved in a war with Iran at such a stage. You have no interest in targeting the PKK. ... You must end this conflict. It is America that wants this conflict to go on. Because these attacks of yours serve America's interests. They want both the PKK and Iran to grow weaker." On September 5, 2011, the
Revolutionary Guard rejected the cease-fire declared by PJAK as "meaningless", as long as PJAK forces remained on the borders of the Islamic Republic. Iran also said its troops had killed 30 PJAK fighters and wounded 40 in several days of fighting. The battle ended inconclusively and on September 12, the cease fire was restored. Iranian officials claimed to have captured three PJAK camps and to have destroyed PJAK's military capability. The organization dismissed this, asserting that its fighters had defeated an Iranian attempt to seize the Qandil area. According to another Iranian source, Iranian ambassador to Iraq
Hassan Danaei-Far declared that they had cleared all areas of PJAK activities and that they had reached an agreement with the Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, in which they vowed to keep the border peaceful. According to Fars news, Revolutionary Guard commander General Abdollah Araqi declared that the conflict had ended after PJAK had accepted Iran's terms and withdrawn all its forces from Iranian soil. On December 28, 2011, Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps clashed with PJAK forces in Baneh in northwest Iran. PJAK reported that it was attacked by Iranian government forces, which led to the death of nine government officials; PJAK says it sustained no casualties.
2013 There were two clashes between the PJAK and the IRGC in mid-April near areas along the border with Turkey. On June 6, 2013, Yusuf Hamzelu, a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was killed near the northwestern border of Iran, according to Iran's Mehr News Agency. He was buried in Zandan on June 10. The Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), PKK's Iranian branch, denied the news report in a media release and actually accused Iran of hiding the fact that the Iranian soldier was killed by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Syria. On August 14, 4 Revolutionary Guardsmen were killed and 3 wounded during mine dismantlement in Kurdistan province. On August 19, a
battle erupted in the Sardasht border area between
Revolutionary Guard and PJAK, in which PJAK claimed to kill 7 Iranian soldiers and lose 2 fighters; Iran didn't comment on the event. On October 10, 5 IRGC members were killed in Kurdistan province. During October, 9 civilian casualties were reported from
Revolutionary Guard fire in Iranian Kurdistan province. Also during October, 2 PJAK members were executed. Following the hanging of the two militants on October 25, some protests took place outside the Iranian consulate in Erbil, as well as in Iraqi Kurdistan. On October 31, 1 Iranian border guard killed by militants.
2014 In June 2014, Iranian forces claimed to clash PJAK militants and killing at least 2 of them.
2015 In February 2015, Iran executed an individual accused of being a PJAK member. On 20 May 2015, PJAK guerrillas killed an IRGC soldier in
Marivan county, after a counter insurgency operation. In August 2015, PJAK claimed killing 33 Iranian soldiers in two separate incidents with Iran confirming only five casualties.
2025 On July 15, one-way attack drones attributed to Iran struck a Toyota vehicle in the village of Shiwa Gozan, near Penjwen in Southern Kurdistan. The attack killed Semko Kobani, a member of the Eastern Kurdistan Defense Units, and injured another member of the group. On July 20, a border guard, later named Sina Satarvand, was killed as part of an armed confrontation in Baneh. On July 26, two officers in the ranks of the IRGC were killed by PJAK fighters in
Kani Dinar. ==Warfare tactics==