DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards on Thursday used artillery and drones to strike Kurdish militants based in neighbouring Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported.

       "In this operation, the headquarters of those conspiring against Iran's national security was destroyed," IRIB quoted the Revolutionary Guards as saying about the latest attack on the rebels based in neighbouring Iraq.

       There are frequent clashes in the remote and mountainous border region between Iranian security forces and Iranian Kurdish militant groups opposed to the Tehran government, such as the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), linked to Kurdish PKK insurgents in Turkey, and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI).

       On Monday, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, the head of the Guards' ground forces, said Iran was preparing to retaliate against the militants based across the border and urged civilians there to "stay away from the terrorists' headquarters in order to avoid harm", Iranian news agencies reported.

       (Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)