Iranian security forces broke up a group linked to Islamic State (ISIS) which was planning attacks in religious centers in the country and trying to hide weapons in home appliances, Reuters reported Monday, citing Iranian state media.
The operation was conducted jointly with another country's agents and a total of 27 suspects were arrested. The other country was not named.
Last month, Iranian security forces also arrested members of an ISIS-linked group which planned bombings and suicide attacks in religious centers. The number of suspected terrorists arrested in that operation was not disclosed.
Those arrests came days after Iranian Revolutionary Guards fired missiles from western Iran into eastern Syria, aiming at ISIS bases which had claimed responsibility for twin attacks that killed 18 people in Tehran on June 7.
Intelligence Ministry agents "were able to arrest a terrorist group linked to Daesh (Islamic State) that intended to carry out terror operations in religious cities ...," the Iranian news agency IRNA said in Monday.
"The terrorists were trying to bring (weapons and ammunition) into the country by concealing them in home appliances," the agency quoted a ministry statement as saying.
It said 10 people were arrested at the group's leadership center abroad and 17 people inside Iran. Five of the 17 were due to carry out the attacks in Iran and the other 12 were supporting them, statement said.