Iran to target armed rebels even beyond borders: commander

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) will target terrorists and armed rebels within the country's borders and beyond, Commander of IRGC's Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour said on Sunday.

Pakpour made the remarks in a reference to the recent clashes between the IRGC's forces and the Kurdish rebel groups in northwestern Iran.

Since the headquarters of these groups are in the northern Iraq, the authorities of the country should take responsibility to prevent the moves by these groups which may threaten the security of the Islamic republic, the commander said.

Iran will target the bases of the terrorist groups anywhere, he stressed.

On Saturday, the IRGC said in a statement that its forces had killed five armed insurgents in the fresh clashes in the Kurd-populated region of Iran's northwestern province of West Azarbaijan.

In the operations, a sizable number of arms and facilities were seized from them, it said.

On June 16, the IRGC said that its forces had smashed two terrorist cells in northwestern country and had killed twelve terrorists.

Three members of the IRGC also died in the clashes with "counter-revolutionary terrorist groups," it said.

Reports said the "terrorists" belonged to the members of outlawed "counter-revolutionary terrorist groups," including the Kurdish Democrat Party, who had crossed the northwestern borders into the country. Endit