Sanandaj, Iran: Video of deadly gunfight emerges

Two gunmen at the right of the image

Footage recently posted on the Internet shows last week's gunfight in front of a police station in Sanandaj, Iran, on Thursday, October 7, 2010.

The deadly battle left four security agents and a civilian dead, according to news sites. Five police officers and four civilians were injured in the attack, said Colonel Kazeminejad, deputy police chief of Kurdistan province.

The attack took place in front of the police station situated at the north end of Sanandaj's Azadi Square, formerly known as Eghbal Square:

View Azadi Square - Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, Iran in a larger map

The police station, a prominent concrete and glass structure, can be seen from another angle in the image to the the right. The cameraman was most likely in the brown building to the east of the police station.

Two individuals opened fire on police officers outside the building late in the afternoon, the spokesman for the Kurdistan Human Rights Organization, Ejlal Ghavami, told BBC Persian, citing eyewitnesses. The gunmen can be seen clearly in the video posted on Unity4Iran's YouTube channel:


Northwestern Iran has been wracked with violence in the past weeks. A bomb blast killed 12 people during a military parade in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, on September 22. A security officer and a 4-year-old boy died in a gun battle on the streets of Saghez, Kurdistan province, on September 20.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack. Some opposition groups have pointed the finger of blame at the regime's security forces, accusing them of trying to unite the people against 'counter-revolutionaries' and attempting to justify the current crackdown in the country.