Two dead as militants attack police station in southeast Iran, state TV says

An Iranian soldier keeps watch from a tower in Milak, southeastern Iran on July 19, 2011. (AFP/File)
Short Url
Updated 08 July 2023
Follow

Two dead as militants attack police station in southeast Iran, state TV says

  • Armed group attacked police station in Zahedan, city in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province
  • Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said in a statement that the four militants were killed

TEHRAN: Four militants attacked a police station and killed two security forces in southeastern Iran, state TV reported on Saturday.

The armed group attacked a police station in Zahedan, a city in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province, about 30 kilometers from the border with Pakistan, triggering a shootout. Two security forces were killed, the report said.

Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said in a statement that the four militants were killed.

The report quoted Alireza Marhamati, the province’s deputy governor, as saying the militants were trying to gain access to the police station and were equipped with grenades, but did not elaborate further.

State-run IRNA news agency also reported that authorities on Saturday hanged two men involved in the October 26 deadly attack on Shah Cheragh mosque in the city of Shiraz, the second holiest site in Iran.

The report said the two were members of the extremist Daesh group and were behind the deadly attack that killed at least 13 and wounded 30 people.

Semi-official ISNA and Tasnim news agencies said that the two were publicly executed in the city of Shiraz.

The gunmen who executed the attack, identified as Sobhan Komrouni, died in a hospital in southern Iran, days after the Oct. 26 attack, from injuries sustained during his arrest.

State TV at the time blamed the attack on “takfiris,” a term that refers to Sunni Muslim extremists who have targeted the country’s Shiite majority in the past.

The attack came as protesters elsewhere in Iran marked a symbolic 40 days since a woman’s death in custody ignited the biggest anti-government movement in over a decade. It appeared to be unrelated to the demonstrations.


Syrian authorities arrest leader of terrorist cells in Lattakia

Updated 28 January 2026
Follow

Syrian authorities arrest leader of terrorist cells in Lattakia

  • Ali Aziz Sbeira is accused of violating civilians’ rights during the Syrian uprising after 2011

LONDON: Syrian authorities have arrested Ali Aziz Sbeira, a prominent leader of terrorist cells responsible for attacks on internal security checkpoints, the Syrian army and civilians during the country’s uprising against the former regime of Bashar Assad.

The Internal Security Directorate announced on Wednesday the capture of Sbeira in Lattakia province, located on the Mediterranean Sea.

Authorities accuse him of leading and supplying arms to terrorist groups. Hailing from the town of Jableh, Sbeira is also accused of having links to Ghiyath Dalla and Brigadier General Nours Makhlouf, two military figures associated with the former rule of Assad.

Sbeira is accused of violating civilians’ rights during the Syrian uprising after 2011, when he joined the National Defense Militia and helped suppress peaceful demonstrations, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.

In 2014, he joined the 4th Armoured Division, which was commanded by Maher Assad, brother of the former president, from 2018 until the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024.