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)
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Updated 08 July 2023
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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.


WHO alarmed by health workers, civilians ‘forcibly detained’ in Sudan

Updated 17 December 2025
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WHO alarmed by health workers, civilians ‘forcibly detained’ in Sudan

  • The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency

GENEVA: The World Health Organization voiced alarm Tuesday at reports that more than 70 health workers and around 5,000 civilians were being detained in Nyala in southwestern Sudan.
Since April 2023, Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million more and devastated infrastructure.
“We are concerned by reports from Nyala, the capital of Sudan’s South Darfur state, that more than 70 health care workers are being forcibly detained along with about 5,000 civilians,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“According to the Sudan Doctors Network, the detainees are being held in cramped and unhealthy conditions, and there are reports of disease outbreaks,” the UN health agency chief said.
The RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction allied earlier this year, forming a coalition based in Nyala.
“WHO is gathering more information on the detentions and conditions of those being held. The situation is complicated by the ongoing insecurity,” said Tedros.
“The reported detentions of health workers and thousands more people is deeply concerning. Health workers and civilians should be protected at all times and we call for their safe and unconditional release.”
The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency.
In total, the WHO has recorded 65 attacks on health care in Sudan this year, resulting in 1,620 deaths and 276 injuries. Of those attacks, 54 impacted personnel, 46 impacted facilities and 33 impacted patients.
Earlier Tuesday, UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “alarmed by the further intensification in hostilities” in the Kordofan region in southern Sudan.
“I urge all parties to the conflict and states with influence to ensure an immediate ceasefire and to prevent atrocities,” he said.
“Medical facilities and personnel have specific protection against attack under international humanitarian law,” Turk added.