Iran army kills four Sunni militants near Pakistan border

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency says the country's Revolutionary Guard has killed four Sunni militants along the eastern border with Pakistan.

The Sunday report says soldiers clashed with a nine-member cell of the Jaish al-Adl militant group last week, killing four of them, including their leader.

Last week, Guard forces wounded two militants in clashes near the border and confiscated weapons and ammunition.

Security forces often clash with drug traffickers in the area, which is along one of the main routes for bringing Afghan opium and heroin to the Persian Gulf and Europe.

Shia-majority Iran has seen a rise in Sunni militancy in recent months, and in June authorities said they foiled one of the "biggest terrorist plots" ever hatched on Iranian soil.

In August, Iranian police clashed with fighters described as "takfiris" - a derogatory term in both Arabic and Farsi referring to extremist Sunni Muslims who consider other Muslims to be infidels - and killed three of them in the country's west.

Earlier in August the state also executed 20 convicted members of Sunni militant groups.