TEHRAN – Iran has announced its forces have busted two terrorist groups, killed 12, in the Oshnavieh border, located in West Azerbaijan province, who sought to infiltrate into the country.

Over the past week, Iranian intelligence and combat forces have been involved in a number of border clashes with terrorist groups.
Intelligence and combat forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) were involved in the Oshnavieh clash, three of whom have been reported martyred.
While nothing has been revealed on which group the terrorists were affiliated with, IRGC's Ground Force Commander Mohammad Pakpour said the two groups were trying to carry out sabotage and terrorist attacks.
Earlier this week, Iran confirmed killing of a number of terrorists in separate operations in border areas across the country.
During one by IRGC forces in northwestern border city of Sardasht, five members of the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) were killed. PJAK terrorist group is linked to Turkey’s militant Kurdish Workers’ Party.
Sardasht has been located in the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan.
In another clash in southern city of Khash on Monday, Iranian police forces killed five members of a terrorist group which is an offshoot of Jaish ul-Adl.
Western and Eastern borders of Iran have been a hotbed for terrorist activities, mainly influenced by weak border monitoring of neighboring countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. 
Annually, Iranian forces bust terrorists groups in the regions, while losing forces, as well.
The terrorist clashes come at a time when the U.S. State Department’s annual report blamed Iran for supporting terrorism, branding the country as “the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2015,” and claimed that Iran has provided “a range of support, including financial, training, and equipment, to groups around the world.”

Also, in one relevant story, Iranian intelligence forces arrested an Iranian-English woman who they said was linked to foreign intelligence services over cyber and media sabotage attempts and national security matters.

Nazanin Zaghari, 37, was arrested by intelligence teams affiliated with IRGC on April 3 this year in Imam Khomeini International Airport, transferred to Kerman province short after.

A manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Nazanin Zaghari was arrested where she and her daughter, Gabriella, were about to board a flight back to Britain, according to the Guardian

Since her arrest, Zaghari has been held in solitary confinement in an unknown location in the southern province of Kerman while allowed phone calls and visits from her family during the confinement, the report says.
AK/