Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday their forces had killed six militants and dismantled two hideouts in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, seizing explosives and weapons in a series of operations against armed groups.
The public relations office of the Quds Base of the Guards’ ground forces said in a statement carried by Tasnim news agency that “two terrorist teams were destroyed in coordinated operations in the north and south of the province.”
The IRGC’s Quds Base in southeast Iran — one of its 10 regional commands — oversees forces in Sistan-Baluchestan and Kerman provinces, and is separate from the Quds Force, the Guards’ overseas unit.
The statement said that “six trained terrorists who intended to carry out sabotage and terrorist operations were killed and others detained.”
The Guards said they found “25 kilograms of explosives, ready-to-detonate bombs, detonators, remotes, blasting cord, radios and other equipment” in a raid on a safe house in Chabahar, in the province’s southeast.
The statement added that another militant hideout in the north of the province was also struck.
The Guards praised local residents for their cooperation and urged them to report suspicious activities via designated hotlines.
The operations come amid a surge of violence in the province, where the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl has carried out a series of deadly attacks in recent weeks.
On Friday, a police officer was killed and another wounded in the city of Iranshahr after gunmen opened fire on a military vehicle, according to police. Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility.
Earlier in August, Iranian police said three militants and one officer were killed in a clash in Saravan, while in late July nine people died in an assault on a courthouse in the provincial capital Zahedan, which the group also claimed.
Sistan-Baluchestan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been the scene of unrest involving Sunni militants, drug traffickers, and security forces.
Jaish al-Adl, designated a terrorist organization by both Iran and the United States, says it is fighting for the rights of Iran’s Baluch minority but Tehran accuses it of links to cross-border militant networks.
