The Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) on Saturday killed 17 insurgents in a military operation near border with Turkey, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The ground forces of IRGC attacked an area 17 km away from the border and ran after rebels who were described by Tehran as "mercenary elements", the report said.

"The IRGC surrounded the elements and killed 17 of them, leaving some wounded," the report cited an IRGC statement as saying, adding that the Iranian forces were "to fully clean up the region of anti-revolutionary elements."

However, the commander of this operation, along with other eight accompaniers, had an accident during a look-see flight by helicopter, the report said, without giving any details on possible casualties.

Meanwhile, Iranian senior officials have repeatedly accused the U.S. and Britain of trying to make convulsions in the country's bordering areas with Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan and Afganistan.

"Our enemies headed by the U.S., Britain and Israel are seeking insecurity in some border areas including southeast and northwest of Iran, even their goals have been defeated in this (Mideast) region," Revolutionary Guards' chief Yahya Rahim Safavi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.

"They intend to make these areas insecure by hiring mercenaries, but Iranian forces will firmly suppress rebels dependent on foreigners and anti-revolutionary movements," he added.

The crackdown came just two weeks after 13 IRGC members were killed in a bomb blast in the southeastern border province of Sistan-Baluchestan. Iran also blamed the U.S. involvement in the incident.

Iran's West Azerbaijan province borders Turkey and Iraq, where Iranian forces usually clashed with some Kurdish guerillas who were outlawed by Turkish government in the past years.

Source: Xinhua