Initial ceasefire plan for Kurdistan borders

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Kurdistan Regional Government Kurdistan RegionG) and Iran have reached an initial agreement to stop the Iranian shelling of Kurdish villages within the region’s territories, according to a Kurdish official. “Under the agreement, which has come into effect as of Saturday (Feb. 14), Iranian artillery will avoid shelling populated villages and areas…,” a Kurdistan RegionG representative for Tehran, Nadhem Omar al-Dabbagh, said in an interview with al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper. “From now on, residents of these villages will be able to return to their houses, which they left as a result of the constant Iranian artillery shelling throughout the past period,” Dabbagh added. The agreement does not include mountainous areas, where Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) fighters are believed to be based, he explained. The PJAK is an armed Iranian Kurdish group that is stepping up its campaign for Kurdish rights against the theocratic regime in Tehran. SS (P) 1