TEHRAN – A member of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was martyred in clashes with counter-revolutionary groups in the city of Marivan in Kurdistan Province, west Iran. 

According to the public relations department of the IRGC’s Hamze Sayyid al-Shohada Base, its forces clashed with the anti-Revolution outlaws in the western province of Kurdistan on Friday, Tasnim reported. 

The clash took place in the city of Marivan, the statement said, noting that a local member of Basij, named Rozgar Tabireh, was martyred in the line of duty.

The IRGC base emphasized that its forces will continue operations to ensure security and cleanse the entire northwestern areas of the anti-Revolution groups.

The IRGC is tasked with protecting the country’s northwestern and southeastern borders.

Also, the IRGC announced that it had dismantled another counter-revolutionary group in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan Province. 

In a statement on Wednesday, the IRGC said the group was dismantled by its ground and intelligence forces in an area located to the south of Sistan-Baluchestan province. Two members of the group were killed in the operation. 

Earlier in May, five Iranian border guards were martyred during an attack by gunmen in the border region of Mak Soukhteh in Sistan-Baluchistan province.

Two of the victims were officers and the remaining three were conscripts.

The troops serving in the border regiment of Saravan clashed with a group of gunmen who were trying to cross the border near the Mazesar border post, the Iranian police said, adding that the terrorists fled the scene after suffering heavy losses, according to Tasnim. 

The police pledged that such an unfair attack will not remain unanswered.

Saravan is only 40 kilometers away from the common border with Pakistan. 

A parliamentary delegation from the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee paid a visit to the location of the deadly armed attack that took place in the easter province. 

Shahriar Heidari, a member of the committee, led the delegation.

Heidari said the Iranian troops resisted from their location at the border post’s turret for an hour. “Five people of the border guards were stationed in the turret that was destroyed by the group for about an hour. The terrorists first asked the Iranian border guards to surrender, but the brave border guards of our country preferred martyrdom to surrender. And this shows the sacrifice, interest and courage of the border guards towards the soil of the country,” he said, according to the parliamentary news agency ICANA.

He also said that the assailants were backed by foreign powers. “Based on the geographical conditions of this region, it is quite clear that the foreign services on the other side of the border had a close relationship with the terrorist group and definitely helped them in providing equipment,” he added.

The MP continued, “The authorities should pay special attention to equipping the country's border guards, and I expect my colleagues in the parliament to soon put the plan to strengthen the border guards on the agenda so that the border guards of the Islamic Republic of Iran can be strengthened in terms of quality and quantity.”