Derband village is located on the Hamilton Road between Choman and Haji Omaran. At that time, the Iraqi government had stationed a military base in that place. In general, the government only held the main roads and had established outposts and military bases on them to protect them and ensure the safety of their traffic. It is clear that at that time, most of the other areas of Balakayati were under the control of the Peshmerga Forces. The villages around Choman such as: Sakran, Khoshkan, Bandayzan, Ene and Muzdeynan, Gundezhor, Nawanda, Rost Valley and many other places, during that period the headquarters of the Peshmerga Forces of the Balaki region of the Kurdistan Democratic Party was in the village of Sakran, which was 15 – 20 km away from the center of Choman town.
As mentioned in the account of Ali Wasta Hamad, a Peshmerga of the Gulan Revolution, at the end of the spring of 1983, news reached the Peshmerga Forces that the government had brought a large force to Balakayati and had packed them into the Derband military base. It is clear that this was not without reason, but rather it was suspected that there was a plan in the works, such as clearing the region and those places known as liberated areas that were under the control of the Peshmerga Forces. After discussing the news by the Peshmerga officials, it was decided to form a force and attack the base, to carry out an activity and demonstrate the strength and power of the Peshmerga and to create chaos in the base.
To implement the decision, a force of more than twenty Peshmerga was formed under the command of Najmadin Goroni the regional official. On a night in the late spring of 1983, they reached the vicinity of the base. After they were fully positioned in the place designated for them, the time came to start implementing the activity plan. Suddenly, they opened fire on the military base with their light weapons. The battle continued for half an hour. During that half hour, they caused a lot of confusion and chaos inside the base. It is clear that the main goal of this activity was to send a message to the Iraqi Army that the Peshmerga are present in the Balakayati region and their activities are continuing, and that they will strike them wherever necessary. In addition to that, it instilled fear and terror in their ranks, showing that no path is closed to the Peshmerga's activities and that they will carry out whatever they intend.
After the Peshmerga Forces carried out what they had planned, staying had no significant benefit other than harm, because the Iraqi Army, as their usual practice after any battle or any guerrilla activity, would bombard the entire area with fire, so it was decided to leave the place. However, the Iraqi Army, in one of its most common reactions, began shelling the area and turned the site of the Peshmerga attack red with DShK weapons. As a result of that counter-reaction of the base, only one Peshmerga was wounded; the others all escaped safely and returned to their headquarters in Sakran village. The next day, the government base summoned a group of people from the area and interrogated them about who they were and where they came from. The people of the area informed them that we have no relationship with that force and we do not know them.
Source:1- Interview with Ali Wasta Hamad Khalkani, Peshmerga of the Gulan Revolution, participant in the battle, resident of Soran, Chami Rezan neighborhood, May 4, 2026.