Iranian Revolutionary Guards have reportedly killed 11 Kurdish rebels in a clash close to the border with Iraq, BBC News reports.

Three Guards also died in the fighting, Iran's Fars news agency cited their commander in Kordestan province, Gen Mohammad Hossein Rajabi, as saying.

He said the rebels were linked to the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and that the Guards had been tipped off when they crossed from Iraq.

The rebels were pursued for 10 days before they were killed, he added.

The PDKI has been striving for decades for autonomy for predominantly Kurdish areas in north-western Iran.