TEHRAN – Iran has pointed an accusing finger at the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) over the recent assassination attempt on an MP, saying the assault is being investigated by security and judicial bodies. 

The vehicle carrying Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the representative of Eslamabad-e Gharb in Majlis, came under attack by four terrorists as he was travelling to the village of Rijab on Sunday.

While Falahatpisheh and two more survived the assassination unscathed, sustaining injuries, the driver and head of the Veterinary Department of Dalahou County lost their lives in the shooting.

Attackers, 4, fled the scene immediately. No group has claimed responsibility yet.

The attack comes amid Saudi Arabia’s former spy chief Turki al-Faisal attendance in an annual meeting of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq Organisation (MKO), which Iran designates as a terrorist group.  In 2012, the U.S. took the MKO off the terrorist blacklist. 

Also, it comes one week before President Rouhani’s trip to Kermanshah province, which includes Eslamabad-e Gharb.

Senior Iranian officials have reacted to the assassination attempt. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Mohammad Reza Aref, a key reformist lawmaker, have requested an immediate probe into the issue.

Also, Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Amoli Larijani said on Monday that “some reactionary countries in the region coupled with the global arrogance seek to foment insecurity in the country by equipping terrorism.”

Also in this regard, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said the assassination attempt was a calculated one, most likely hatched by terrorist groups.

According to him, the terrorists are being searched for by the IRGC and hopefully, will be punished soon.

Terrorist groups backed by Iran's enemies have been carrying out acts of terror mostly in border areas during recent months to scuttle the country’s security.

The IRGC said in June that Iranian troops had killed five terrorists in an ambush in the country’s northwest near the border with Turkey. In its statement, the IRGC added that those killed were all members of PJAK, an offshoot of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The IRGC said their “five-member band” was decimated near the Iranian city of Sardasht.”

The IRGC's Ground Force Commander, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, also said in June that the Iranian forces were engaged in clashes with two terrorist groups in the country’s northwest near the border with Iraq and killed a number of terrorists. He added that the two groups were trying to infiltrate into Iran through the Oshnavieh border area to carry out sabotage and terrorist acts.

In February, Iranian border guards arrested 10 members of terrorist groups who were attempting to infiltrate into the country through eastern and western borders. Terrorist attacks are rare in Iran, but al-Qaeda-linked and other groups stage hit-and-run assaults from time to time.

AK/PA