Iranian elite forces kill 17 insurgents

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have killed 17 insurgents in clashes in north-western Iran near the border with Turkey that saw four of its officers die, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported today.

The clashes were the second in a week between the Guards and insurgents.

IRNA said that fighting took place in inclement weather. It did not say when the clashes took place.

The news agency did not name an Iranian opposition group, however the Kurdish PEJAK, which for the “Party of Free Life of Kurdistan” in Kurdish, has sporadically engaged in armed clashes with Iranian forces during the past two years.

Iran has blamed the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel for Saturday’s clashes, saying the countries were trying to cause insecurity along Iran’s borders.

Iran’s reports come as tensions run high between Iran and the United States over Iran’s nuclear programme and sectarian violence in Iraq.

However, Iraq’s foreign minister said yesterday that Iran would participate in a regional conference on security in Iraq on March 10.

Iran’s top security official spoke favourably yesterday about initiatives to stabilise Iraq that include its neighbours, but he did not say directly whether Iran would join the talks.

The United States will send a diplomat to the conference.