Iranian Intelligence, IRGC Bust Separatist Militant Cell in West Azerbaijan Province

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Iranian intelligence forces busted a 10-member separatist militant cell in the northwest West Azerbaijan Province, the intelligence ministry said Wednesday.
Sputnik
The militants were arrested in a series of raids by intelligence forces acting together with Islamic Revolutionary Guards and the provincial justice ministry, Iranian news agency Tasnim cited a ministerial statement as saying.
West Azerbaijan forms part of the so-called Iranian Kurdistan with a Kurdish-majority population. Iran has been hunting Kurdish separatists in the region.
The ministry accused the militants of plotting extortion and acts of sabotage against vital Iranian infrastructure. Security forces seized military gear, communication equipment and weapons.
The ministry said the group was affiliated with separatists in Iraq's Kurdistan province. It urged Iraq to expel mercenaries, criminals and other "enemies of security" from the region.
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