15 people who attacked Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps bases in Iran have been killed
Staff members of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) killed 15 people who attacked IRGC and local police facilities in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan, the EFE agency reports.
The Iranian agency IRNA reports that two police officers, two border guards, as well as seven members of the IRGC and Iranian paramilitary Basij militia were killed during the armed clashes. In addition, ten Iranian security officers were injured.
IRGC General Mohammad Pakpour said that the situation in the province had returned to normal. He added that the number of terrorists killed could increase. “The security situation has returned to normal in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan. An operation is currently underway to completely clear terrorists fr om other areas they have targeted,” the Iranian Tasnim agency quoted him as saying.
The night before, armed men attacked the headquarters of the IRGC, the marine police building and the police station in the cities of Rask and Chabahar in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan in southeastern Iran. According to Pakpour, the attackers were wearing suicide vests. Participants in the attack took hostages in Chabahar. According to the EFE, after several hours of fighting between the IRGC forces and the attackers, the hostages were freed.
Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi said that the radical group Jaysh ul-Adl, which is recognized as terrorist in Iran, was responsible for the attacks.
Last December, Jaysh ul-Adl claimed responsibility for an attack on police in the city of Rusk that left 11 law enforcement officers dead.
The Jaysh ul-Adl group was founded in 2012, and its members are adherents of the Salafist Islamic movement. It operates mainly in the southeast of Iran, wh ere there are security issues on the border with Pakistan.
The group interacted with Kurdish separatists in Iran. It is designated as a terrorist organization in Iran, USA, Japan and New Zealand.