TEHRAN, 11 July 2004 — Iranian troops killed two Turkish Kurdish rebels in clashes close to the Iraqi border, Tehran dailies said yesterday, amid reports of a major offensive by Tehran on Ankara’s behalf.

The latest fighting took place on Thursday near the town of Baneh, in the far northwest of Kordestan province, some 200 kilometers from the nearest part of Turkey, the papers said.

“These people had illegally crossed the border, ruined border villages and extorted money from residents,” the Hambastegi newspaper quoted an unidentified official as saying.

The new fighting comes hot on the heels of deadly clashes near the Turkish border between Iranian troops and the rebels from the former Kurdistan Workers’ Party, now known as Kongra-Gel.

Deputy Interior Minister Ali Asghar Ahmadi said two Iranian soldiers and eight rebels were killed in the June 28 clashes. A pro-Kurdish news agency said 16 soldiers and four rebels died. The Germany-based MHA news agency said Iranian security forces had launched “a comprehensive operation” against the former PKK late last month after the rebels abandoned a five-year unilateral ceasefire with Ankara on June 1.

Ahmadi is himself to travel to Turkey tomorrow to discuss joint moves to tackle armed groups holed up in the mountainous border region. Turkish defense sources have already hailed what they described as a “large-scale” operation against the former PKK by the Iranian Army.

Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying yesterday that Iranians should design a national costume of which they can be proud but should not take their lead from the pages of Western fashion magazines.

Conservatives have recently launched a crackdown on young women who flout Islamic dress codes by wearing figure-hugging coats and allowing hair to spill out from under their headscarves.

But Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters, said there was no need for panic. “The young people in this country are pure believers and joyful and are very interested in Islam,” he was quoted as telling young people in the western city of Hamadan.

The Sharq daily said he returned to the idea of a national costume which he floated years ago. “Arabs, Indians, Indonesians and Africans have their own costumes and they are proud of them,” Khamenei said.

“I say sit down and design a national costume ... But I am not saying that it should be something dating back to 500 years ago,” he added. “I am saying if you want to cut your hair short, if you want to change the way you put on make-up, if you want to change the way you walk — then do it.”

“If fashion designers in Europe and America design a kind of clothes for men and women in their fashion magazines, should we copy them in Tehran, Mashhad and Hamadan? That would be bad,” he said. “Cultural mimicry is a big danger, but don’t get me wrong, I am not opposed to fashion, variety and innovation.”

Meanwhile, two Iranians convicted of murder have been hanged in Fuman, in the northern province of Gilan, government newspaper Iran reported yesterday. The first man, named only as Arshadollah, had set a house afire in 1997, killing three members of a family, two men and a woman, the newspaper said.

The second man, named as Mohammadali, had killed a man in 2000. Murder, armed robbery, rape, apostasy and serious drug trafficking are all punishable by death in Iran.