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Iranian police clash with PKK supporters(Turkish Daily News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Conflicting numbers of casualties were reported regarding clashes between Iranian police and supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who held a series of demonstrations in the provinces of Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan last Friday in order to protest PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan's imprisonment on the anniversary of his capture seven years ago. The governor of a Kurdish town in western Iran told the Associated Press yesterday that peace had returned to his constituency, two days after two demonstrators were killed during a demonstration marking the anniversary of the capture of Ocalan. Alireza Radfar, governor of Maku, said police clashed on Friday with rock-throwing demonstrators who tried to storm government buildings in Bazargan and Yolaglas districts. "Some 10 demonstrators were shot, including two who were killed," he said, noting that the demonstrators launched attacks during a gathering Maku, some 900 kilometers northwest of Tehran, has a predominantly ethnic Kurdish population of more than 150,000. Kurdish areas in Iran have occasionally witnessed unrest against the ruling Islamic establishment. Last year, the unrest rocked several Kurdish towns in northwestern Iran. Clashes with police and arrests led to more protests. Ocalan was captured in Kenya after he was forced to leave a Greek diplomatic mission there in 1999. He was then sentenced to death for leading the PKK but his sentence was later commuted to life in prison, which he is serving as the sole inmate on a prison island near Istanbul. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. An Internet news site, Iran Focus, reported that a least five people were killed and dozens injured or arrested in the course of clashes. Iranian Kurds staged several rallies in various towns and cities in the northwestern regions of Iran on Thursday and Friday, the report said. There were street clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in the towns of Maku, Bazargan and Sardasht, the report added. Another Internet news site that is close to the PKK reported that at least eight people were killed, 25 injured and 400 arrested. Turkey has in the past accused Iran of fueling radical Islam in Turkey and sheltering Islamic extremists. But Ankara has similar concerns with Tehran in regards to mutual neighbor Iraq and the threat posed by the PKK, which is carrying out attacks on Turkish soil. The group is also believed to be behind ongoing ethnic unrest in Iran's northwest |