Iran news agency: Gunmen kill guard near border with Turkey

Flag of Iran (Photo by Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s official news agency says an Iranian border guard has been killed by gunmen near the border with Turkey.

IRNA’s report says the guard died in a shootout on Monday while another border guard and two engineers who were inspecting nearby water resources were wounded.

The attack happened near the town of Maku in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, about 900 kilometres, or 560 miles, northwest of the capital, Tehran. The province has a large Kurdish minority.

IRNA says the gunmen were members of Turkey’s Kurdish separatist P.K.K. group and that Ankara has promised to investigate.

The area near Iran’s borders with Turkey and Iraq sees occasional skirmishes with Kurdish separatist groups, as well as extremist Islamic rebels. Last month, militants killed eight Iranian border guards in clashes there.