ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iranian border guard was killed early Monday during clashes with an armed group in the southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, state media reported. The border guard, identified as Amir Mohammed Amiri, was “killed by armed assailants near the city of Hirmand,” Iran’s state IRNA news agency said. The attack was the second carried out by militants in southeast Iran during the day after a separate attack killed one soldier and injured three others. A number of Balochi jihadist groups operate in southeast Iran, primarily the Jaish al-Adl (Justice Army) group. The militants have waged an insurgency against Tehran and carried out attacks against its forces, especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Baluchis are a mainly Sunni ethnic minority in Iran, living predominantly in the Baluchestan region near the border with Pakistan. The region was heavily targeted during the violent crackdown by the IRGC for nationwide protests in September 2022. Hundreds of Baluchis were killed by the IRGC during demonstrations in Zahedan and Khash. Jaish al-Adl has carried out a number of suicide attacks on Iranian security forces, killing dozens in the border areas. The group was added to the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in 2019 by the administration of former President Donald Trump. The designation was in response to a deadly attack by the group on the IRGC, which killed 27 guards near Sistan and Baluchestan’s provincial capital of Zahedan.
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