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SULAIMANIYA, Iraq — Artillery shells fired from Iran have landed in remote northern villages of Iraqi Kurdistan in the past four days and have killed at least two civilians and wounded four others, a senior Kurdish official said Saturday.

Dozens of families have fled the region.

The shells have been aimed at an area around Qandil Mountain, known as a base for militant Kurdish opposition groups seeking independence from Turkey and Iran, said the official, Mustafa Sayed Qadir. He is a senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which governs the eastern half of Iraqi Kurdistan.

"A lot of homes have been damaged and livestock killed," he said. A shepherd was wounded Saturday, and two women were among the three people wounded on previous days, he added.

The government of Iraq is aware of the shelling, which has taken place occasionally in recent months, but has not taken an official position, he said.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. He has at times had a close relationship with Iran, especially when he sought Iranian support in the 1990s against rival Kurdish leaders and Saddam Hussein. But Talabani is also aware of the Iranian government's poor treatment of its Kurdish minority. Iranian officials could not be reached to comment Saturday evening.

Iran and Turkey have sizable Kurdish populations that live in mountainous areas bordering Iraqi Kurdistan. In recent weeks, the two countries have stepped up warnings to Kurdish militant groups, perhaps fearing that they might have enough of a safe haven in Iraqi Kurdistan to inject new vigor into independence movements in Iran and Turkey. Iraqi Kurdistan is autonomous from the rest of Iraq and is home to most of this country's 5 million Kurds.

It is unclear what weaponry or troops Iran has amassed along its border with Iraqi Kurdistan.

U.S. officials have accused Iran of supporting Hezbollah in its recent battle against Israel. Earlier this month, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Iran had been pushing small Shiite militias to step up attacks against the U.S.-led forces in Iraq as retaliation for Israel's assault on Lebanon.

A U.S. military spokesman said some Shiite militias had been training in Iran and had received weapons from individuals or groups in that country. However, the spokesman, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, said the military had not found any evidence that the Iranian government was involved.