ANKARA 

Iranian border guards killed 11 militants in clashes in northwestern Iran near border with Iraq, according to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on Saturday.

The clashes took place late Friday in Oshnavieh town in West Azerbaijan province when a group of militants attempted to sneak into Iranian territory, the IRGC said in a statement.

No Iranian guards were among the casualties, the statement said.

The statement did not specify to which group the militants belonged.

PJAK, the Iranian offshoot of the terrorist PKK organization, had previously carried out attacks targeting Iranian military forces.

Reporting by Ahmet Dursun:Writig by Kubra Chohan