The newspaper said the radio-detonated mines had been planted in the Haj Omran region close to the border with Iraq by rebels from the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK).

The mines were laid in response to the deaths of a number of rebels in clashes with the security forces, said the newspaper, which quoted the Tabnak news website which has close security contacts.

There has been an apparent increase in fighting with the Kurdish rebels on Iran's northwestern borders with Iraq and Turkey over the past few weeks.

Iranian security forces on Friday killed three PJAK members in clashes in the northwest of the country, news agencies reported.

Last week, it was reported that six members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards died in fighting with PJAK while two border guards were killed by mines laid by the rebels.

The group operates from rear-bases in northeastern Iraq and makes sorties across the border into Iran. It has been involved in a series of clashes with Iranian security forces in recent years.

The rebel group has close links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a deadly insurgency in southeastern Turkey since 1984.