Al Arabiya English, along with other Arab news sources report that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and a group of “armed criminals” clashed in the southeast of the country, leaving three IRGC members dead in addition to six criminals, state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.

The IRGC said in a statement they identified through their intelligence a hideout and headquarters of a number of well-known armed criminals.

The clash between the IRGC and the criminals also lead to five other criminals being wounded and the destruction of their headquarters.

According to the IRGC statement, the criminals used “human shields” in the clash, and that three local members of the Basij militia fighting along the IRGC were killed in the clashes.

The clash took place in the predominantly Sunni Muslim Sistan-Baluchistan province near the border with Pakistan. The area has long seen clashes with drug traffickers, since it’s also near the border with Afghanistan where the trade of opium and heroin thrives.

The Sistan-Baluchistan province has also long been plagued by Sunni militants fighting the Iranian regime’s Shia authorities, as many Sunni Iranians complain of discrimination, which Tehran denies.