Lahur Sheikh Jangi accused of PUK Leaders assassination plot

Shafaq News - Al-Sulaymaniyah

Lahur Sheikh Jangi, head of the People’s Front Party, and former Zanyari intelligence official Azhi Amin, orchestrated a plot to assassinate PUK leader Bafel Talabani and KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, according to confessions aired on television.

The confessions, broadcast on Wednesday, revealed that Sheikh Jangi and Amin had planned the drone attacks to appear as though carried out by Iran or Turkiye rather than a domestic group.

Two snipers were assigned to target Bafel Talabani in his car near Dabashan, followed by a drone strike. A technical team involved in the operation also confirmed receiving specialized training in Ukraine on constructing suicide drones.

Earlier, clashes broke out between security forces and Sheikh Jangi’s guards after a court issued a warrant for his arrest. He was detained along with his brothers, Polad and Aso, during a raid on his residence at the Lalezar Hotel in Sarchinar.

Sheikh Jangi, who once co-chaired the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), was ousted by Bafel Talabani in 2021 after an internal rift. He later founded the People’s Front (PFP), which won two seats in the 2024 Kurdistan parliamentary elections.