TEHRAN – In clashes on Saturday in western Iran, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) arrested 16 out of 21 militants affiliated to the ISIS, also called Daesh.

Following several days of intelligence activities, the IRGC Ground Force on Saturday mounted an operation against the terrorist cell in an area in western Iran, IRGC Ground Force Commander Mohammad Pakpour said, according to Tasnim.

In the operation, the IRGC forces managed to lay siege to the hideout of the militants and arrested 16 members of the terror group, the brigadier general said.  

In the clashes, a number of the terrorists were killed and two of them are still at large but the area is surrounded by the IRGC forces, he explained.

On Sunday, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli also said, “Basij forces, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and the Intelligence Ministry arrested 16 members of a terrorist team.” 

Rahmani Fazil also said explosives and weapons were sized from the terrorists.

Also, both Pakpour and Rahmani Fazil confirmed three security forces were martyred. 

A source from the Iraqi Kurdish security in Garmiyan told Rudaw on Saturday that they are the same group who entered armed clashes with their forces in Bamo Mountain, Halabja on the border with Iran.

Iraqi Kurdish officials have expressed concern about ISIS militants fleeing from places like liberated Mosul to Hamrin, as the rugged area provides many possible hideouts.

Back in August, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry said its forces had disbanded a terror cell affiliated with ISIS and arrested 27 terrorists before they could carry out acts of terror deep inside Iran.

The terrorists were nabbed during a series of intelligence operations and through intelligence sharing with the intelligence service of a regional country, the ministry said.

Trained mostly at the Saudi-run school of Takfirism, ISIS operatives have been attempting terror attacks inside Iran in the past.

Last June, ISIS attacked the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in southern Tehran, killing at least 18 and wounding dozens.

The IRGC fired several missiles at Daesh bases in Syria on June 18 in response to the twin attacks.

MH/PA