Iranian security forces in day of deadly clashes with Kurdish and Sunni militants

Deadly clashes rocked Iran on Monday with security services locking horns with Kurdish rebels in the north and al-Qaeda-inspired groups in the south, government officials said.

According to media reports, five militants from the PJAK - the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan – were killed by the Revolutionary Guards near the Iraq border.

The Revolutionary Guards said on their website that the group was responsible for the death of three members of Iran's Basij militia more than a month ago. No further details were provided about the operation.

The last reported clashes between Kurdish rebels and the Revolutionary Guards were in September, when two rebels and two Iranian soldiers were killed. Kurdish rebels periodically attack Iranian armed forces near the border with Iraq's Kurdish region.

In a separate incident in Iran’s south, one police officer and five Sunni militants were killed in the fighting, which pitted Iranian forces against the Sunni militant group Jaish-ul Adl that Tehran accuses of having links to al-Qaeda.

Officials recovered "large amounts of explosives" after the clashes, the state television website said.