Iranian security forces have dismantled a terrorist group and arrested its members in the country’s northwestern province of West Azarbaijan, the Intelligence Ministry says.

The ministry issued a statement on Thursday, saying the terrorist group “which had infiltrated into Iran with the aim of fueling the recent unrest” were put under surveillance in the city of Piranshahr.

The terrorist group engaged in armed confrontation with Iranian security forces on Wednesday, during which they used a local woman as a human shield and killed three Iranian security forces, the statement added.

One terrorist was killed and several others were injured during the operation. A number of their weapons and explosives as well as a notebook containing guidelines for creating unrest were seized, according to the statement.

The so-called Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (DPIK), an outlawed group based in northern Iraq, claimed the attack on its Twitter page.

Iran’s northwest has repeatedly witnessed attacks by terrorist and anti-Islamic Republic elements.

In June 2017, 40 Daesh terrorists who intended to carry out acts of terror inside Iran in the holy month of Ramadan, were identified and arrested in the cities of Piranshahr, Sardasht, Mahabad, Bukan and Takab in West Azarbaijan Province.