Iran shells Iraqi Kurdistan area
Dozens of families have fled the region.
The shells have been aimed at an area around Qandil Mountain, known as a base for militant Kurdish opposition groups seeking independence from Turkey and Iran, said the official, Mustafa Sayed Qadir, a senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which governs the eastern half of Iraqi Kurdistan.
"A lot of homes have been damaged and livestock killed," he said. A shepherd was wounded Saturday, and two women were among the three people wounded on previous days, he added.
Also, Saturday, state-run television reported that Iran has launched a series of large-scale military exercises aimed at introducing the country's new defensive doctrine. The television report said the military exercise would occur in 14 of the country's 30 provinces and could last as long as five weeks.
The first stage of the maneuvers began with air strikes in the southeastern province of Sistan va Baluchistan, the report said.
The president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, is the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. He has at times had a close relationship with Iran, especially when he sought Iranian support in the 1990s against rival Kurdish leaders and Saddam Hussein. But Talabani is also aware of the Iranian government's poor treatment of its Kurdish minority. Iranian officials could not be reached to comment Saturday evening.
Iran and Turkey have sizeable Kurdish populations that live in mountainous areas bordering Iraqi Kurdistan. In recent weeks, the two countries have stepped up warnings to Kurdish militant groups, perhaps fearing that they might have enough of a safe haven in Iraqi Kurdistan to inject new vigor into independence movements in Iran and Turkey. Iraqi Kurdistan is autonomous from the rest of Iraq and is home to most of this country's 5 million Kurds.
It is unclear what weaponry or troops Iran has amassed along its border with Iraqi Kurdistan.
U.S. officials have accused Iran of supporting Hezbollah in its recent battle against Israel. Earlier this month, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Iran had been pushing small Shiite militias to step up attacks against the U.S.-led forces in Iraq as retaliation for Israel's assault on Lebanon.
In Baghdad, thousands of Shiite pilgrims converged on a shrine in the northern part of the capital for an annual procession, walking a route secured by police officers as a citywide ban on driving emptied the streets in an effort to prevent sectarian attacks and panic.
At least three Shiites were found dead in Baghdad, shot in the head, according to hospital officials. But the Interior Ministry could not confirm whether they were pilgrims.
Elsewhere in Iraq, battles continued to rage. A U.S. soldier was killed from wounds incurred during fighting in Anbar Province, the U.S. military said in a statement. An Iraqi police patrol was ambushed by sniper's fire in Mosul, killing a policeman and wounding another, the police said.
In a series of gunbattles in and around Baqouba, at least six people were killed. A civilian died from stray gunfire after an attack on an Iraqi police checkpoint in a western suburb; nearby, gunmen killed two professors from Diyala University.
Contributing: Associated Press
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