Five members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed in clashes in southeast Iran on Sunday, according to state media, bringing the death toll from violent disturbances there two days earlier to five.
The combat in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, was first reported by state media on Friday. Later, it was confirmed that four members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), including two colonels, had died in the fighting.
The number of fatalities among the Guards in the terrorist event in Zahedan on Friday has risen to five, according to state news agency IRNA, with the death on Saturday night of one of the paramilitary forces.
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An additional 32 IRGC members were wounded during the clashes, the official news agency said, citing a Guards statement.
It was unclear whether the violence was related to the widespread anger that broke out after Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, 22, died in September after being detained by the morality police for allegedly breaking the nation’s strict dress code.
However, Molavi Abdol Hamid, a Sunni Muslim preacher, claimed on his website on Wednesday that the community was “inflamed” following a recent incident involving the alleged rape of a teenage girl by a police officer in the same area.
On state television, Sistan-police Baluchestan’s chief reported that three police stations had been attacked in the region without specifying how many people were hurt.
The Guards announced that Colonel Hamid Reza Hashemi, an IRGC intelligence officer, and Colonel Ali Mousavi, a provincial intelligence officer, were among those killed.
Tasnim news agency on Saturday reported that the extremist group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) had claimed responsibility for the attack in Zahedan.
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In recent years, the extremist group has been the most active group in Sistan-Baluchestan, carrying out several high-profile bombings and abductions.
Tasnim reported Sunday that two “important” members of Jaish al-Adl – Abdolmajid Rigi and Yasser Shahbakhsh – as well as the “sniper responsible for killing” the provincial intelligence chief, had been killed, without providing further detail.
