TEHRAN (Press TV) -- The semi-autonomous Kurdish government of Iraq has called on separatist Kurdish militants to cease cross border attacks on Iranian territories.

Reports indicate that Iranian artillery and fighter jets on Saturday launched attacks against the outlawed Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK). The attacks, which have had no reported casualties, are the first time Iran has used aircraft against Kurdish rebels.
“Relations between us must be built on the foundation of respect and mutual interests, and it is not acceptable for any group to attack countries bordering the Kurdistan region,” the regional government said in a statement.
The statement also condemned Iran’s attacks on the region and demanded an immediate halt to the air raids, which have according to the statement “caused citizens to flee and harmed crops.”
The outlawed PJAK last week, attacked a police station in the western town of Ravansar, killing a number of Iranian officers.
The same day also witnessed unidentified armed men attack a police base on a road in the outskirts of Sanandaj, the provincial capital of Kurdistan Province, in the early hours of the morning.
During the attack, the armed group killed an Iranian police officer and injured four others.
Security officials have managed to thwart the attacks, killing and arresting a considerable number of the armed-separatist group in the process.
Iran has on several occasions reported clashes between government forces and PJAK members along its western border with Iraq.
PJAK is considered to be an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has been fighting Turkish troops for over three decades.
Although the U.S. has on several occasion’s announced its willingness to help Turkey defend itself from PKK terrorist attacks, it has been aiding PJAK in Iran’s Kurdistan to stir up ethnic unrest in the country.
In a 2006 article published in The New Yorker, investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, revealed that the U.S. military and Israel are assisting PJAK by providing the group with equipment, training, and vital intelligence in a bid to destabilize the Islamic Republic.
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