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Rudaw, 21 July 2016

An Iranian border police chief has accused Iraq of failing to protect the border and allowing Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) to enter Iran from the Kurdistan Region and engage in conflicts with Iranian forces.

Mohammad Abbasi, commander in chief of Urmia border police, stated that he understood Iraq’s security forces were strained with the war on the Islamic State but expressed hope that they would be more diligent in guarding the border.

An Iraqi border official, Sherko Abdullah, denied the accusation but admitted that there were remote regions of the border that are inaccessible to the Iraqi border police.

Relations between Iran and the Kurdistan Region have deteriorated after KDPI Peshmerga, formerly based in the Kurdistan Region, entered Iran and have clashed with Iranian forces. The KDPI insists that the clashes have been instigated by the Iranians and the Kurds responded in self-defence.