Iran's Revolutionary Guard has killed at least two Iranian Kurdish rebels in a raid that destroyed one of the group's headquarters in northwestern Iran.

The hours-long gunbattle between Iranian forces and militants from the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan began late Saturday and ended early Sunday. It occurred along the Iraqi border near the Kurdish town of Sardasht.

A rebel spokesman said many soldiers were killed in the battle. But Iran's officials news agency, IRNA, confirmed just one soldier's death.

The Kurdish militant group, known as PJAK, has been involved in sporadic clashes with Iranian forces in recent years and says it is fighting for greater rights.

The deadly clashes came nearly a week after the Iranian military threatened to attack the group's bases in neighboring Iraq. PJAK rebels said the fighting had spilled over into Iraq's Sulaimaniyah Province, but this could not be independently confirmed.

Iran routinely shells border districts of northern Iraq's Kurdish region, targeting PJAK bases.