Iran raids: 13 militants killed by Revolutionary Guards in Sistan-Baluchistan region; several held

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that its forces had killed 13 militants during a series of raids in the country’s volatile southeast, days after a deadly ambush on police in the region.

“So far, 13 terrorists have been killed and a number of others arrested,” the Guards said in a statement carried by state television. The operations were conducted in the cities of Iranshahr, Khash and Saravan in Sistan-Baluchistan province, according to the report.

As per news agency AFP, the broadcaster said that some of those killed were suspected of involvement in Friday’s ambush in Iranshahr, where five policemen lost their lives. The Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, later claimed responsibility for that attack on Telegram.

Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been a centre of unrest. The province, home to a large Sunni Muslim Baluch community, is among the poorest in Shiite-majority Iran. Armed clashes between security forces and groups including drug traffickers, separatists and Sunni militants are frequently reported.

Iranian authorities regularly accuse Jaish al-Adl of carrying out deadly assaults on police and Revolutionary Guards, the elite force that serves as the ideological arm of Iran’s military.

On Saturday, state media reported that six militants were killed in another raid in the province, with officials alleging they were linked to Israel.

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