Tehran, Dec 29 (IANS): Iran held a funeral ceremony Monday honouring a senior commander killed in Iraq, media reported.

The commander, Gen. Hamid Taqavi, of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) died in the Iraqi city of Samarrah Sunday while performing "an advisory mission in the fight against Takfiri (Sunni groups) and IS (the Islamic State) terrorists", Xinhua reported citing the Tasnim news agency.

The general, who once served as a commander during the eight-year Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s, was killed in the vicinity of the Shia shrine in Samarrah.

The funeral, at the IRGC General Staff Headquarters in Tehran, was attended by a number of high ranking officials, including Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and former defense minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi.

Earlier this month, Iran's foreign ministry denied reports that Iranian fighters had targeted the IS militants on Iraqi soil.

"We do not confirm any reports concerning our military cooperation in Iraq against the IS militants," Iranian foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said.

"No change has taken place in Iran's policy," she said, adding that Iran only offered consultations and military aid to Iraq within international law.

Western media had earlier quoted the Pentagon as saying that Iranian fighter jets had conducted airstrikes from inside Iran on IS posts in eastern Iraq.

Iran and the US have already denied that they were cooperating against the jihadis in Iraq.

The Islamic republic, which vows to protect the Shia cities and shrines in Iraq from IS threats, has acknowledged the presence of its military commanders in the neighbouring country for military consultations.