On October 26, militants from the Jaish al-Adl group killed 10 police officers in Taftan county, Sistan-Baluchistan province — one of the deadliest attacks in the region in recent months.
“A total of eight terrorists have been killed” during operations in the province, Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Shafahi said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
“Fourteen other terrorists have been arrested,” including key figures involved in the Taftan attack, he said, adding security forces seized a large amount of weapons and ammunition.
Late on Monday, IRNA quoted Guards ground forces commander Mohammad Pakpour as saying the militants who carried out the October 26 attack “were not Iranian”, without specifying their nationalities.
Sistan-Baluchistan straddles the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is one of the Islamic republic’s most impoverished provinces.
It has long been a flashpoint for cross-border attacks by separatists, and clashes between security forces and armed groups are common.
In early October, at least six people, including police officers, were killed in the province in two separate attacks.
Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for the attacks on Telegram.
Formed in 2012 by Baluch separatists, the group is considered a “terrorist organisation” by both Iran and the United States.
At least 10 police officers were killed in a “terrorist attack” in an area of southeastern Iran long plagued by unrest, local media reported on Saturday (October 27, 2024).
They were killed during an attack on “police vehicles” in Sistan-Baluchistan province’s Taftan county, the Mehr and Tasnim news agencies reported, without saying how it was carried out.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred some 1,200 kilometres southeast of the capital Tehran.
The official IRNA news agency, citing a police statement, reported the death of “10 personnel in two patrol units” in what it called an ambush.
Sistan-Baluchistan borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, and is one of the most impoverished provinces in the republic.
It is home to a large number of the Baluch minority, an ethnic group spread between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan who practise Sunni sect in contrast to the country’s predominantly Shia population.
The province has experienced recurring clashes between Iranian security forces and rebels from the Baluch minority, radical Sunni groups and drug traffickers. Saturday’s attack was one of the deadliest attacks in the area in recent months.
In early October, at least six people, including police officers, were killed in the province in two separate attacks.
Jaish al-Adl — Army of Justice in Arabic — claimed responsibility for the two attacks in a message on Telegram.
Formed in 2012 by Baluch separatists, the group is considered a “terrorist organisation” by both Iran and the United States.
The recent ambush took place in an area which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and has long been the site of clashes between Iranian security forces and fighters as well as drug traffickers.
