Three killed in Baluchi militants attack in southwest Iran
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least three Iranian border guards were killed after an attack by a Sunni militant group in Sistan and Baluchestan province, southwest of Iran, on Thursday evening.
Mehdi Shamsabadi, Sistan and Baluchestan prosecutor, told reporters that a group of unidentified assailants targeted the border guards while they were filling gas at a station in Mirjaveh city. Three border guards were killed and one civilian was injured.
In separate conversations with Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and Sistan and Baluchestan Governor Mohammad Karami, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref “emphasized the necessity of preventing the recurrence of such terrorist incidents by strengthening the borders of the country,” according to the semi-official Mehr News Agency.
Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni militant group which frequently targets Iranian security forces in Sistan and Baluchestan, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, warning that the province “is not safe for the guards of the oppressive regime.”
Sistan and Baluchestan province, near the Pakistani border, is one of the only Sunni-majority provinces in the Shiite-dominated Iran. There are a number of Baluchi armed groups active in the area that carry out regular bombings and suicide attacks.
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 list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in 2019 by the administration of former US President Donald Trump.
The designation was in response to a deadly attack by the group on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which killed 27 guards near Sistan and Baluchestan’s provincial capital of Zahedan.
Mehdi Shamsabadi, Sistan and Baluchestan prosecutor, told reporters that a group of unidentified assailants targeted the border guards while they were filling gas at a station in Mirjaveh city. Three border guards were killed and one civilian was injured.
In separate conversations with Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and Sistan and Baluchestan Governor Mohammad Karami, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref “emphasized the necessity of preventing the recurrence of such terrorist incidents by strengthening the borders of the country,” according to the semi-official Mehr News Agency.
Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni militant group which frequently targets Iranian security forces in Sistan and Baluchestan, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, warning that the province “is not safe for the guards of the oppressive regime.”
Sistan and Baluchestan province, near the Pakistani border, is one of the only Sunni-majority provinces in the Shiite-dominated Iran. There are a number of Baluchi armed groups active in the area that carry out regular bombings and suicide attacks.
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 list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in 2019 by the administration of former US President Donald Trump.
The designation was in response to a deadly attack by the group on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which killed 27 guards near Sistan and Baluchestan’s provincial capital of Zahedan.