Iranian forces clash with Kurdish separatists

Revolutionary Guard reports unspecified number of casualties in fighting in West Azerbaijan near Iraqi border

TEHRAN — Iranian security forces have clashed with Kurdish separatists who infiltrated a northwestern village to stage “terrorist and propagandist operations,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported Saturday.

IRNA quoted an unnamed official from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as saying the clashes happened Friday in the West Azerbaijan province near the Iraqi border. The Guard’s website said “a number of terrorists have been killed during the clash” and that a “chase operation to destroy other terrorists is underway.” It did not give precise casualty figures.

The Kurdish group was not immediately reachable.

The Guard clashed with Kurdish insurgents in West Azerbaijan earlier this month. Both sides gave conflicting death tolls from the earlier round of fighting. The Guard said it killed 12 insurgents while three of its members died. The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan said Kurds killed over 12 Guard members, including a colonel.