According to the latest reports received by Avatoday, following the nationwide Kurdistan general strike on Friday, January 8, 2026, residents of Ilam and other cities across the province took to the streets, launching widespread protests on Friday as well as Saturday and Sunday (January 9–10, 2026). From the very first hours of the demonstrations, the military-terrorist forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran opened direct fire with military-grade weapons on protesting Kurdish civilians.
According to a reliable source working as medical staff at one of Ilam’s hospitals, during these two days more than 2,500 Kurdish citizens in various cities of Ilam Province, in Iranian Kurdistan, were killed by direct gunfire.
The source testified that they had personally seen hundreds of bodies, many of whom had been killed by single gunshots to the head.
Quoting eyewitnesses present at the protests, the source stated: “Many of the wounded were executed on the streets with coup de grâce shots, or were killed inside ambulances and on the way to hospitals by the terrorist forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian army.”
Regarding the situation prevailing in Ilam Province—particularly the city of Ilam, the provincial capital—the source said: “Iranian military-terrorist forces have set fire to many shops, residential homes, government offices, mosques, and schools, and are now claiming in state media that protesters were responsible for these acts.”
The source also described the dire situation of injured protesters who managed to reach relatively safe locations: “Thousands have been wounded and there is no access to adequate medicine. In the city of Ilam, where dozens of pharmacies previously operated, only three pharmacies remain open, serving a population of 600,000 people. To obtain medicine, citizens must present their national ID cards, have their personal details recorded, and without a prescription only basic cold medications are provided.”
From the very first days of the nationwide uprising against fascism and dictatorship, Iranian Kurdistan has been at the forefront of street protests. Provinces including Ilam, Kermanshah, Lorestan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad have played a more prominent role than other regions of Kurdistan in these demonstrations.
During four nationwide uprisings and protests in Iran — Dey 2017 (January 2018), Aban 2019 (November 2019), the Jina uprising, and the recent uprising — according to data released by Iranian human rights organizations, more than 80 percent of the geographic spread of the protests took place in the provinces and cities of Kurdistan, and 72 percent of those killed were Kurdish citizens.
According to statements by human rights activists, Iranian military forces — including the army and the IRGC, carry out the killing of civilians far more easily in the provinces of Iranian Kurdistan than in Persian-speaking and central provinces of Iran.
Report: Shahram Mirzaei
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