Iranian forces kill six ‘terrorists’ linked to Israel

TEHRAN: Iranian forces have killed six militants in a raid in the restive southeast, state media reported Saturday, saying they were members of a “terrorist” group linked to arch enemy Israel.

“During an intense exchange of fire with terrorists in Sistan-Baluchistan province, six assailants were killed and two others arrested,” official news agency IRNA said, citing a statement from the intelligence services.

The report did not provide an exact location or say when the raid took place.

Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been a flashpoint for clashes between security forces and armed groups, including drug traffickers and separatists.

IRNA said there were “documents” indicating “the Zionist nature” of the group targeted in the latest raid, adding that its members had planned to attack a “vital” facility in Iran’s east, without elaborating.

The report said that “the main operation team” was composed of “seven non-Iranian terrorists”, but did not specify their nationality.

Two intelligence agents and a police officer were wounded in the gunfight, IRNA said.

Iran regularly reports deadly ambushes in the province targeting police or members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

On Friday, the Sunni jihadist group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), which Tehran outlaws as a “terrorist” organisation, claimed an attack in Sistan-Baluchistan that killed five police officers.

On Sunday, Iranian state media said security forces had killed seven members of another jihadist group, Ansar al-Furqan, also in Sistan-Baluchistan.

The province, which is home to a large Sunni Muslim Baluch minority, is one of the poorest regions of the Shiite-majority country.

Iran regularly reports deadly ambushes in the province targeting police or members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Authorities blame militant groups, including Jaish al-Adl, for such attacks.

In April this year, eight Pakistanis were killed in the Mehrestan County of Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan.

Militant groups operate in an area that includes Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan and Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province. Both regions are restive, mineral-rich and largely underdeveloped.