Two Basij militiamen, seven opposition group militants killed in clashes in western Iran

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Basij paramilitary force and seven members of an armed opposition group were killed in clashes in western Iran on Tuesday, media affiliated with the IRGC reported.

A group of seven people clashed with IRGC members of Hamza Sayyid al-Shuhada base when the group tried to enter the city from the Iran-Turkish border, the semiofficial Tasnim News Agency reported.

Two members of the Basij, a paramilitary force affiliated with the IRGC, and all seven members from the armed group were killed.

Clashes often occur between Kurdish opposition groups and Iranian security forces, particularly the IRGC, in the area. Iran often shells the border areas after clashes causing damage to the local environment and Kurdish civilians living nearby.

In recent years the IRGC has taken increasingly proactive measures to smother clandestine Kurdish opposition groups by making thousands of kilometers of new dirt roads atop mountain peaks overlooking Kurdish areas, installing thousands of additional troops to seal off its
porous western border with Iraq.

On Friday, two Sunni Basijis were assassinated in a village in Sistan and Balochestan province, reported the media outlet.

Another person was killed after clashing with an armed group in the area of Mariwan province, reported Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Wednesday. 

Iranian security forces opened fire on a vehicle on Monday, fatally shooting a five-year-old child also in Sistan and Balochestan, local activists reported on Tuesday.

Two IRGC guards were killed in clashes in Kurdish areas of western Iran in late April.