Ten security members, including the deputy of a police station, were killed in two attacks claimed by jihadists in Iran’s restive southeast, state television reported Thursday, updating an earlier toll of five.
“The case of the terrorist attacks was closed with the martyrdom of 10 members of the security forces,” and the killing of 18 “terrorists”, state television said. A police post in Sistan-Baluchistan province bordering Pakistan was among the targets, it said.
“In one of the attacks on police station number 11 of the city of Chabahar, deputy of the station Abbas Mir was martyred,” state broadcaster IRIB said, adding that a number of assailants were also killed or injured.
It was also said that the jihadist Jaish al-Adl group, which was formed in 2012 and is blacklisted by Iran as a “terrorist” group, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
“The terrorists did not succeed in their goal of capturing the Guards headquarters in Chabahar and Rask and are under siege,” Deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi told state TV.
“The terrorists are stationed around these headquarters and are shooting blindly, while the courageous members of the Guards and the police are confronting them,” he added.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ideological arm of Iran’s military, has numerous stations in Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The province has for years faced unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority, and Sunni Muslim extremists.
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With AFP
