Iran shelling targets deeper inside northern Iraq: mayor of Joman

Iranian forces have shelled deeper into northern Iraq than previously, hitting targets in an area northeast of the city of Arbil, a local official said Thursday.

"The Iranian forces began their bombardments again on Wednesday evening targeting far away from the border," said Abdul Wahid Koani, mayor of the Kurdish Iraqi border town of Joman.

"This time the Iranian bombardment was different as it targeted a town deep inside Iraqi territory," Koani told AFP.

Iranian artillery shells landed in the Haj Umran area, hitting targets on two mountains and villages abandoned from earlier attacks, he said, adding that they reached as far as 17 kilometres (10.5 miles) into Iraqi territory.

Iran confirmed for the first time on Sunday that it had been shelling camps of Kurdish militants inside northern Iraq, saying the local authorities had not listened to its warnings.

The militant Kurdish separatist group PJAK -- linked to Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- has been behind a string of deadly attacks on security forces in northwestern Iran in recent months.

Iraqi Kurdish officials said last month that hundreds of Iraqi Kurds had fled remote mountain villages near the country's eastern frontier after Iranian gunners targeted separatist guerrilla bases.

Iraq-Iran border chaos over detainee dispute
ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) - The sudden closure by Iran of its border with northern Iraq began taking its toll on Tuesday, with queues of trucks forming at the frontier and experts warning of severe economic fallout.Tehran said on Monday it was closing its frontier with Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region in protest at the detention last week of an Iranian by US troops.

"There are a huge number of trucks waiting to cross the border into Kurdistan but the Iranians are not allowing them through," said the mayor of Joman town near the Haj Umran border post in northern Iraq.

"The trucks are carrying frozen goods such as chicken, meat and eggs which are going to spoil. We spoke to the Iranian officials but they refused to allow the border post to open," Abdul Wahid Koani told AFP.

Economic analyst Mohammed Salman of the University of Arbil warned that people on both sides of the frontier would be affected.

"The closure of the border will hit both the Iranians and Iraqis because Kurdistan is considered a fertile market for Iranian goods," said Salman.

Aziz Ibrahim, director general of the Kurdish ministry of trade, agreed there could be significant economic damage.

"There are 120 Iranian firms working in different regions of Kurdistan, most of which are participating in construction projects and have signed trade contracts with Iraqi concerns," Ibrahim told AFP.