ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Three members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in clashes with Baloch militants in the southeastern city of Saravan on Saturday, according to semi-official Iranian media.
The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency alleged that the militants operating in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province were backed by the US and Israel.
The clashes began at around 5 am local time when a large number of IRGC personnel and intelligence agents raided a house in the Bakhshan area of Saravan, with fighting continuing until around noon, according to Tasnim.h
Three IRGC members were killed during the operation. Four suspected militants, described by the IRGC as “traitors,” were also killed, while weapons, ammunition and explosives were reportedly recovered from the group’s hideout.
The People’s Fighters Front, a Baloch armed group operating in Sistan and Baluchestan, said in a statement on Saturday that one of its units in the Bakhshan area of Saravan County had come under attack by Iranian military and security forces, according to Haalvsh, an independent Baloch news and human rights outlet.
The group said its reinforcements managed to break through the initial siege after entering the area and, amid clashes at several locations across the city, evacuated a number of its fighters who had been surrounded at their original position.
The latest violence comes after Iranian security forces reported another clash with an armed group in Saravan in late August.
Tasnim reported late last month that security forces killed one alleged member of Jaish al-Adl, a Baloch armed group, and arrested six others in two operations carried out jointly by the IRGC and Iran’s intelligence ministry.
Sistan and Baluchestan, a predominantly Sunni province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been the scene of attacks by Baloch armed groups and operations by Iranian security forces.
The recent clashes come amid concerns from UN human rights experts over Iran’s treatment of ethnic minorities, including Baloch people. UN experts have previously raised concerns about arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and torture in Iran, while UN reporting has also highlighted the disproportionate impact of executions and other rights violations on ethnic minorities.
