IRGC kills 5 armed bandits during clashes in northwest Iran

Forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have killed five armed bandits affiliated with counter-revolutionary groups after engaging them in the country’s northwest.

The IRGC’s Public Relations Office said in a statement on Saturday that the clashes erupted overnight in the provinces of West Azerbaijan and Kurdestan.

Among the mercenaries killed in the operation were two terrorist commanders identified as Arash Menbari and Shouresh Menbari, according to the statement.

Significant quantities of weapons, ammunition and equipment were confiscated from the terrorists in the process, the statement added.

According to the statement, IRGC forces did not suffer any damage during the “successful operation.”

Earlier this week, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the IRGC’s Ground Forces, accused the US and Saudi Arabia of attempting to organize and reinforce terror groups and counter-revolutionary elements in Iran’s geographical periphery.

Over the past several days, a number of terror activities were thwarted on the border and within the country, he added.

On Monday, Iranian troops killed five terrorists in an ambush in the country’s northwest near the border with Turkey.

Those killed were all members of PJAK, an offshoot of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an IRGC statement said, adding their “five-member band” was decimated near the Iranian city of Sardasht.