Iran Guards say 5 'terrorists' killed near western border

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Thursday they had killed five "terrorists" in clashes near the western border with Iraq.

"A terrorist team that intended to infiltrate into our country from the western borders yesterday (Wednesday)... was completely destroyed," the Guards said in a statement published by their official website Sepahnews.

The clashes occurred in the vicinity of the city of Javanrud, located 460 kilometres (285 miles) west of Tehran in Kermanshah Province. The statement did not say whether the dead were from Kurdish opposition or jihadist groups, both of which have previously entered from neighbouring Iraq.

The Islamic republic has been battling for most of its 40-year history with militant Kurdish opposition groups who use their bases in Iraq's Kurdistan region to stage attacks against the Guards and state institutions inside Iran.

On Tuesday Sepahnews reported that three members of the Guards had been killed and another wounded in an attack on their vehicle by "terrorists affiliated to global arrogance." The Tuesday attack occurred further north of Javanrud in Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan Province.