TEHRAN: At least five members of Iran’s security forces were killed Sunday in a “terror attack” in the restive southeast, where authorities have been conducting operations against rebels, local media reported.
The Fars news agency reported that in a “terror attack in Saravan county, in the south of the Sistan-Baluchistan province, five members of the security forces were killed.”
Sistan-Baluchistan borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces. It is one of the few mainly Sunni Muslim provinces in Shiite-dominated Iran.
For years it has faced unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and extremists.
Fars said that after the attack in Saravan, “units stationed in the region were quickly deployed to pursue the criminals.”
Iranian forces launched a major operation in the area after an attack on October 26 killed 10 police officers.
That attack was later claimed by the Pakistan-based Sunni jihadist group Jaish Al-Adl (Arabic for Army of Justice).
Local media reported that those behind the October attack have been killed in the current security operation.
Some 15 militants have been reported killed in Sistan-Baluchistan province since the October attack, including three on Sunday, state television said.
It also said more than 30 suspects have been arrested.
Formed in 2012 by Baluch separatists, Jaish Al-Adl is designated a terrorist organization by both Iran and the United States.
Five Iranian security forces killed in attack in Sistan-Baluchistan province
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Five Iranian security forces killed in attack in Sistan-Baluchistan province
- Iranian forces launched a major operation in the area after an attack on October 26 killed 10 police officers
Iran’s president says rioters must not disrupt society
TEHRAN: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday said “rioters” should not be allowed to disrupt society, in his first remarks after three nights of intensified protests against the country’s authorities.
Pezeshkian, in an interview with state TV on Sunday, said “protesting is the people’s right,” but echoed authorities in drawing a line between outcry over Iran’s dire economy and “rioters” they allege are backed by the US and Israel.
“The people (of Iran) should not allow rioters to disrupt society. The people should believe that we (the government) want to establish justice,” he told state broadcaster IRIB.
Pezeshkian called on Iranians to “come together and not let these people riot” on the streets.
“If people have a concern, we will hear them. It is our duty to hear them and solve their problems. However, our highest duty is not to allow rioters to come and disrupt society,” he said.
Pezeshkian accused the US and Israel of “trying to escalate this unrest with regard to the economic discussion and solutions we are working on.”
“They have taken some people here inside and abroad and trained them. They brought terrorists in from abroad into the country,” he said, calling those who had set the mosque on fire “not human.”
State TV has aired images of buildings, including a mosque on fire, with authorities saying members of the security forces have been killed.
US President Donald Trump has said his country “stands ready to help” demonstrators and threatened new military action against Iranian authorities “if they start killing people.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he hoped Iran would soon be freed from what he described as the “yoke of tyranny.”
