Tehran: Iranian security forces on Sunday killed seven members of a militant group in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, state media reported.
Deputy provincial governor Ali Velayatipour said the gunmen, all members of the Ansar Al-Furqan group, were killed in the early hours of Sunday, according to official news agency IRNA.
The militants “intended to attack sensitive centers and military and law enforcement bases,” Velayatipour said.
Iran has designated Ansar Al-Furqan a “terrorist” organization. Last year, the group claimed a suicide attack that killed a police officer, also in Sistan-Baluchistan.
The province which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan is one of Iran’s poorest, and a frequent scene of clashes between security forces and Baloch minority rebels.
It is home to a large ethnic Baloch population, most of whom are Sunni Muslims, in contrast to Iran’s Shiite majority.
On Saturday, gunmen killed a police officer in a shootout in the province, with the militant group Jaish Al-Adl (Arabic for ‘Army of Justice’) claiming responsibility.
The group, which operates from the borderlands between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, mainly the Sistan-Baluchestan triangle, but has been active mainly inside Iran, has claimed multiple attacks in recent years, including an assault on a courthouse last month that left at least six people dead.
