Four members of the security forces were killed in a “terrorist” attack in southeastern Iran, the official Irna news agency announced on Monday.
This attack occurred in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, located near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan and affected by episodes of violence in recent months.
“During a terrorist act, four members of the security forces of the Revolutionary Guards”, the ideological army of Iran, “were martyred” in the region of Saravan, near the border with Pakistan, according to Irna.
This region is one of the poorest in Iran and is home to the Baloch minority, which mostly adheres to Sunni Islam and not the country’s dominant Shiism.
Faced with the “powerful presence” of the security forces, the aggressors fled to Pakistan,” added Irna, without giving more information on these attackers.
On December 14, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence reported the arrest of three individuals involved in the alleged assassination of a Sunni imam, killed on December 8 in Sistan-Baluchistan.
Zahedan, the capital of the province, was affected by several days of violence sparked on September 30 during demonstrations against the rape of a teenager attributed to a police officer.
The violence erupted as the country has been plagued by protests since the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, three days after her arrest in Tehran by vice police.