IRGC engages militants in northwest Iran

Forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) (file photo)

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces have clashed with Kurdish militants who had infiltrated a northwestern village to stage terrorist and propagandist operations.

The confrontation took place in a village in the Mahabad County of West Azerbaijan Province.

An IRGC member, who asked not to be named, said the forces engaged the terrorists around Bengovin Village, and said the clashes continue. “The Corps’ forces are still in the area and are trying to clear it [of militants].”

The militants had last week clashed with the IRGC in the Oshnavieh County, also in West Azerbaijan Province.

The IRGC is, meanwhile, watchful of terrorist movements throughout the country.

On Thursday, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the IRGC’s Ground Forces, said the forces had captured two members of a terrorist group in the southwest, saying the detainees had admitted to US and Saudi support. The group had been dismantled in the city of Khash in Iran’s Sistan-and-Baluchestan Province last week.

Additionally, after thwarting a Takfiri-Wahhabi plot to stage attacks in Iran's major cites including Tehran, the country's Intelligence Ministry released a video on Wednesday showing the security forces raiding the hideout of the terrorists in the capital.

A day earlier, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi had briefed reporters on the recent swoop, saying that as many as 10 terrorists had been apprehended from June 14 to 20 in Tehran and three border and central provinces.

It was also reported recently that Iranian security forces killed five members of a terrorist group in the Khash region.