Iran kills insurgent and captures another

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian forces have killed a suspected Kurdish insurgent and captured another in a clash in the country's northwest, media reported on Monday.

Iran's Press TV quoted witnesses as saying the gunmen possibly had links with the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), a Kurdish rebel group operating in border areas near Iraq and Turkey.

Iranian forces often clash with guerrillas from PJAK, an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which took up arms in 1984 to fight for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey.

Press TV quoted provincial Revolutionary Guards commander Majid Arjmandi as saying four wounded gunmen fled into the mountains after the clash with his forces. Other Iranian media said it took place on Saturday night.

"Insurgents affiliated to foreigners had intruded into the Iranian territory overnight to destabilise the situation, but they suffered heavy losses in clashes with Iranian forces," Arjmandi was quoted as saying, without elaborating.

Like neighbouring Iraq and Turkey, Iran has a large Kurdish minority, mainly living in the country's northwest.

Iran sees PJAK, which seeks autonomy for Kurdish areas in Iran and shelters in Iraq's northeastern border provinces, as a "terrorist" group.

(Reporting by Fredrik Dahl)