Clashes in northern Iran kill 8, including 5 border guards

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Eight people, including five border guards, have been killed in Iran after clashes with a “terrorist” group on the border with Turkey, an Iranian official stated.

 

The armed clashes took place Friday evening at the border near Chaldoran in the majority-Kurdish province of West Azerbaijan, deputy governor Alireza Radfar told state-run IRNA news agency.

 

He said that five of the dead are border guards and the remaining are civil employees. He claimed that Iranian security forces inflicted great damage on the “terrorists,” without giving further details.

 

The clashes in the mountainous area were still continuing when the official reported it. No group has claimed responsibility.

 

Several Kurdish armed groups opposed to Iran have been active since 2015 when they resumed their armed struggle for greater national and cultural rights for millions of Kurds in Iran.

 

ISIS has also carried out attacks in Iran. The group claimed responsibility for two coordinated attacks in the capital of Tehran killing at least 17 people in June of this year.