ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Heavy clashes erupted between Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Baluchi militants in Zahedan on Thursday morning, with videos published by a human rights monitoring group showing heavy gunfire in residential areas of the southeastern city.
IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News said six members of what it described as a Salafi militant cell were killed in the fighting.
“Early this morning, based on information received from local residents and after establishing precise intelligence surveillance, a terrorist cell that intended to carry out an attack in the area was identified and targeted,” Tasnim quoted an IRGC statement as saying.
The IRGC also said a number of explosive packages were discovered and seized.
Haalvsh, which monitors human rights violations in Baluchi areas, said the clashes began early morning, hours after a security forces checkpoint was attacked, killing one officer.
“Haalvsh sources said the clashes started at around 6:00am, with heavy gunfire and RPG fire still being heard in the area,” the watchdog said.
“As of the time of reporting, there was no precise information about the identities of those involved or the number of people killed or wounded.”
The checkpoint attack and the clashes in Zahedan follows several weeks of violence across the Baluchestan region, during which both security personnel and members of Baluchi armed groups have been killed.
The rights group reported on Tuesday clashes between Iranian armed forces and “armed individuals” southeast of Iran in “heavy gunfire and RPG explosions” and "dozens of military vehicles" deployed to the scene in the city of Iranshahr. Saberin News, a telegram channel affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), confirmed the confrontation, saying it lasted for "about two hours."
The watchdog said Saturday that Iranian security forces killed 28-year-old Obeid Zardkouhi and arrested 28-year-old Jasem Jamali during a raid on Zardkouhi’s home on Friday in Iranshahr County. Jamali was taken to an unknown location, the group said.
On Thursday, serious clashes erupted in Zahedan between security forces and members of the Baluchi coalition group known as the People’s Fighters Front, during which two senior IRGC commanders were killed.
IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Zarifi, commander of the Shahid Sajjad Operational Base in Saravan, and Ahmad Herati Zera’ati, the base’s intelligence chief, were among those killed in the fighting, while at least 13 others were wounded. Four armed men were also killed, according to IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News.
Sistan and Baluchestan, in southeastern Iran, borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and has long faced attacks by Baloch armed groups as well as security operations by Iranian forces. It is the most underserved part of the country with little state investment.
