Report: ‘Terrorists' Kill 5 Iranian Security Forces in Northwest

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Five members of Iran's security forces including an officer were killed when their vehicle was ambushed by "terrorists" in northwestern Iran, a local official told Fars news agency on Tuesday.

"Five police personnel were martyred... when their vehicle was destroyed" in West Azerbaijan province at midday on Monday, the city of Maku's governor, Hamid Ahmadian, told the agency.

He said an officer was among the dead in the attack near the border with Turkey.

Iran's west and northwest areas have seen sporadic clashes between Iranian forces and rebels from the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) since July 16.

The Islamic republic's Revolutionary Guards have launched a major offensive against PJAK bases in the northwest along the Iran-Iraq border, saying they have killed more than 50 rebels.

The elite force also admits to having lost eight men in the fighting.

PJAK rebels often clash with Iranian forces, and their bases in the mountainous border regions of Iraqi Kurdistan from which they launch their attacks are bombed in retaliation.