A drone attack, likely carried out by Iran or an Iranian-backed militia, killed a Kurdish woman in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq on April 14. According to the local Rudaw media, “a young female member of the Komala Toilers of Kurdistan, a Kurdish opposition group, has died from wounds she sustained in a drone attack earlier on Tuesday that targeted the group in the Kurdistan Region’s eastern Sulaimani province, a senior security official told Rudaw.”
This is the latest of over 700 drone and missile attacks on the Kurdistan Region. The Islamic Republic and militias it backs carried out the attacks after the US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 27. The regime has targeted US and UAE diplomatic facilities in Erbil, as well as Kurdish forces.
Many of the attacks have targeted the Kurdish Iranian opposition groups who have bases and facilities in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, such as the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), Komala, the Free Life Party (PJAK), and Khabat.
These are all Kurdish parties that are also part of a coalition that opposes the Iranian regime. The coalition has grown since December 2025 as it has sought to coordinate activities and work closely together. Two branches of the Kurdish Komala parties are members of the coalition, in addition to the PAK, PDKI, PJAK, and Khabat parties.
According to Rudaw, a source said that “one of the people injured in Tuesday’s drone attack, a young woman, has succumbed to her wounds.” The report added, “The spokesperson for the Iranian Kurdish opposition group, Amjad Hossein Panahi, identified the slain Peshmerga as Ghazal Mawlan, telling Rudaw that “she died due to the severity of the wounds” sustained in a drone attack targeting the group in the Surdash sub-district, northwest of Sulaimani.” Panahi also reported that “two other members were wounded in the attack.”
Drone launched from Iran, anti-regime Kurdish militia claims
Komala put out a statement saying that Mawlan “was killed in a drone attack launched from the Islamic Republic [of Iran].” She was from Mahabad, in western Iran. Many Kurds live in and near that city.
There are millions of Kurds in Iran, and during the recent conflict with the US and Israel, there were reports that Kurds might rise up in rebellion against the Islamic Republic.
However, the Kurdish parties were cautious, not wanting to see Kurds singled out for retribution by the regime.
Even though many airstrikes hit regime posts in the Kurdish region of Iran, many Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members appear to have simply changed into civilian clothes and hidden in these regions, preparing to return after the bombings and take their revenge.
The Kurdistan Region has continued to suffer drone attacks. “Earlier on Tuesday, two camps belonging to Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region came under drone attacks, resulting in several people being wounded, party sources told Rudaw English.
“In addition to the attack on the Komala position, a source from the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), speaking to Rudaw English on condition of anonymity, reported another drone strike on the group’s Azadi camp in Koya city, located around 70 kilometers east of Erbil,” Rudaw noted.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Interior has said there have been at least two attacks since the ceasefire last week.