Seven Iranian police killed in clash with "bandits"

TEHRAN, Sep 5 (Reuters) Seven Iranian policemen were killed in an overnight clash with bandits in a western province bordering Iraq, the ISNA news agency reported today.

A passenger in a passing car was also killed in the fighting in Kermanshah province, ISNA said, without saying if any of the bandits had also died. It said police did not give any further details about the clash or the gunmen.

Kermanshah, which has a large Iranian Kurdish population, lies south of the province of Kurdistan, where clashes with separatist guerrillas occasionally take place. Smugglers of fuel and other contraband operate in the area.

Earlier this week, an Iranian news agency said a senior Iranian official had denied allegations that Iran had been shelling Kurdish areas in an area of Iraq bordering northwestern Iran.

Iraqi officials accused Iran last month of shelling Kurdish villages in Iraq's northeast, a move Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said threatened ties with Iran.

Cross-border clashes occasionally occur as Iran and Turkey battle Kurdish separatist rebels operating from bases in Iraq's mountainous northeastern region of Kurdistan.

REUTERS LPB BD1843