Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards force said three of its soldiers were killed and 16 Daesh militants arrested in clashes Saturday in the south of the country.
Its Sepahnews website, citing General Mohammad Pakpour on Sunday— the head of the Guards’ land forces — said, “16 members of the terrorist group were arrested and several of them killed”, as well as three Guards in the clashes in Fars province.
“The terrorists wanted to carry out attacks on border towns and in the centre of the country,” he said.
Sepahnews reported earlier that the Daesh militants had infiltrated from western Iran’s border with Iraq.
Iran is one of the main international backers of the Syrian regime and has sent military advisers and thousands of “volunteers” to battle Daesh in both Syria and Iraq.
Last June, Daesh claimed responsibility for two attacks on Iran’s parliament and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini that killed 17 people and wounded dozens.
Iran has since tracked down and killed several suspected extremists, and, over the past few months, authorities have announced the arrest of dozens of Daesh suspects in several regions.
