Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) deployed helicopters and rows of military vehicles and machine guns to the Kurdish city of Javanroud as part of its clampdown on anti-government protests that have gripped the country since mid-September.

As reports of deadly shootings came out, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News confirmed that combat bullets had been fired, but on “terrorists” linked to opposition groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The account, however, has been widely dismissed by locals and activist organizations, who have been raising alarms about a “massacre” of civilians. Videos posted on social media on Monday showed IRGC troops opening fire at mourners who had gathered for a funeral of two protesters killed earlier. In clashes that spread across the city, protesters were seen throwing rocks back at the troops and taking cover in narrow alleyways, while desperately trying to get to the body of a shot protester and carry him away amid the gunfire.

The shootings in the past two days have left at least seven protesters dead, among them a 16-year-old boy, according to the Norway-based Hengaw rights organization, which has been documenting the unrest with a focus on Kurdish areas. An eyewitness in the city also confirmed to Al-Monitor that one of the victims, a teacher identified as Erfan Kakaei, was killed while leaving a mosque after prayers.