Iran's Revolutionary Guards killed six members of a "terrorist" group on Thursday, the IRNA state news agency reported, in a region often hit by clashes between the security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists.
The killings occurred in Zahedan, the capital of the impoverished Sistan-Baluchistan province in southeastern Iran, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and is a major drug trafficking route.
The IRNA report said security forces had discovered and confiscated explosive packages. It did not identify the six people killed and gave no further information on the incident.
Tehran accuses some armed groups of ties to foreign powers and involvement in cross-border smuggling.
Human rights group Haalvsh, which monitors Sistan-Baluchistan, said fighting between military and security forces and armed individuals had started on Thursday morning.
Explosion heard in Zahedan, no damage reported
Separately, the sound of an explosion was heard on Wednesday in Zahedan without causing any damage, Fars news agency reported, citing the city's administrative office.
The reports came as Tehran weighs a US response to its latest proposal to revive the collapsed ceasefire in the Gulf and prepares for a possible resumption of large-scale US military attacks after 7 months of conflict that began with US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.