Baneh; Mardin Ahadi, a Conscripted Soldier, Killed in Baneh Checkpoint Armed Clash
June 28, 2026; Following an armed clash during recent days at a checkpoint on the Baneh-Saqqez highway—which resulted in the deaths of two military and law enforcement personnel and wounded five others—reports obtained by Kurdpa indicate that “Mardin Ahadi,” a young Kurdish man fulfilling his compulsory military service in the law enforcement forces (Faraja), has been identified as one of the fatalities.
An informed source confirmed the news to Kurdpa, stating: “Mardin Ahadi,” son of Shirin and Zahed, a resident of Saqqez who was forced into mandatory military conscription within the law enforcement forces, lost his life during this confrontation. His body was laid to rest on June 27, 2026, at the Aichi Cemetery in Saqqez.
On the evening of Friday, June 26, 2026, a checkpoint on the Baneh-Saqqez axis was targeted in an attack by "an unidentified armed group," triggering a severe armed firefight. State-run media outlets, including the Tasnim News Agency, confirmed the incident, reporting that two military personnel were killed and five others were wounded. According to information received by Kurdpa, the identity of the second slain military officer has been confirmed as First Sergeant “Mohammad Hossein-Beigi.”
To date, no group has officially claimed responsibility for the assault. State media outlets have attributed the ambush to "counter-revolutionary armed individuals" without naming any specific organization. According to their reports, out of the two killed and five wounded, two of the fatalities and two of the injured belonged to the law enforcement forces, while the remaining three wounded individuals consisted of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members and civilians.
Under Articles 1 and 2 of the "Public Conscription Law" of the Islamic Republic of Iran, military service is completely mandatory for all men upon reaching the age of 18. Furthermore, pursuant to Article 5 of the same law, the deployment location is strictly determined by the state, leaving conscripts with no choice over where they serve. Under Article 10, those who evade conscription face extensive structural deprivations, including bans on official employment, international travel, receiving bank loans, securing business licenses, obtaining academic diplomas or university degrees, registering property transfers, and receiving driver's licenses.
Compulsory military service in the Islamic Republic operates as more than a standard military obligation; for many youths—especially Kurdish citizens and other ethnic or religious minorities—it brings a convergence of structural pressures, discrimination, humiliation, deprivation, and psychological trauma. Documented statistics on suicides among Kurdish conscripts, accounts of inhumane barracks conditions, and securitized surveillance targeting Kurdish soldiers underscore how mandatory conscription often transforms into an exhausting and hazardous ordeal.
In relation to this issue, a statistical report compiled by the Kurdpa Human Rights Organization, alongside an exclusive interview with activist Keyvan Samadi, highlights the systemic plight of Kurdish conscripts; these records document at least 41 cases of soldier suicides, driven by recurring patterns of institutional discrimination, intense psychological pressure, securitized profiling, and widespread deprivations.
