9 killed in shootout in Iran's southeast region - guards

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they killed six "armed bandits" in a shootout in the country's southeast that also left three of its members dead.

The latest clashes in Sistan-Baluchistan broke out around a hideout of the militants near a village in the centre of the province, the paramilitary force said late Saturday on its Sepah News website.

"Six bandits were killed and five others wounded," it said, while three members of the force also died. No arrests were announced.

On Friday, the Guards said they "targeted and killed the perpetrators" behind an attack that left two of their members dead on December 25 in the same province.

Sistan-Baluchistan lies on the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan and is a flashpoint of clashes with smuggling gangs as well as separatists from the Baluchi minority or extremist militant groups.

On November 18, three policemen, including a colonel, were killed and six wounded in fighting with an armed group in an area bordering Sistan-Baluchistan.