Iran Starts Diplomatic Efforts to Extradite PJAK Ringleader

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Monday said that Tehran has initiated diplomatic measures to extradite the arrested ringleader of the PJAK terrorist group from Germany.

"The leader of the PJAK terrorist group should definitely be handed over to the Islamic Republic of Iran to be tried," Larijani told reporters here in Tehran today.

The so-called Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) is an Iraq-based armed opposition of the Islamic Republic which stages terrorist attacks on western and northwestern Iran.

"Diplomatic steps are underway in this ground and this (the extradition) should take place," the Iranian parliament speaker added.

He reminded that Iran has pursued the case with the German authorities since a long time ago, and assured that Tehran's diplomatic efforts in this regard have so far proved successful.

Germen security forces arrested the ringleader and two senior members of PJAK, an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), late last week.

FNA correspondent in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region reported that the terrorist gang leader, Abdurrahman Hajji Ahmadi, was arrested at his residence in Germany.

Police also arrested Ramzi Kartel and Zobayr Aydan, two senior members of the terrorist group in another operation.

Kartel and Aydan were arrested in a hideout commonly used by the members of the terrorist group.

PJAK, a militant Kurdish group with bases in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq, has been carrying out numerous attacks in western Iran, southern Turkey and the northeastern parts of Syria where the Kurdish populations live.

The separatist group has been fighting to establish an autonomous state, or possibly a new world country, in the area after separating Kurdish regions from Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.

The outlawed group has been staging attacks across the border in Iran since 2004.