Updated

An Iranian state-owned newspaper is reporting that the country's Revolutionary Guards force has clashed with a Kurdish rebel group near the Iraqi border, killing three.

The Sunday report by IRAN daily says the fighting with the PEJAK group took place near the Iranian Kurdish town of Baneh, some 488 kilometers (305 miles) west of Tehran.

The clashes late Friday were close to where rebels were reported to have killed five Guards earlier this month, in an area that sees occasional clashes between PEJAK, which claims it is fighting for greater rights for Iran's Kurdish community, and government troops.

Also Friday, according to media reports, an armed group in Iran's southeast killed 14 border guards in an ambush, prompting authorities to hang 16 of its members in retaliation.