Four Members Of The Iranian Elite Troops Died, Attackers Escapeed To Pakistan

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Sonia Sevilla)

JAKARTA - Four members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) were killed in the southeast of the country, while the attackers fled to neighboring Pakistan, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

IRNA did not provide further details on incidents in the Saravan area of the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, where some of the deadliest riots during Iran's national protests, and areas where security forces frequently clashed with drug smugglers.

Citing a Revolutionary Guard statement, IRNA said three of the dead were Basij members, Revolutionary Guard-affiliated militias widely deployed during the country's crackdown on protesters.

"The perpetrators of the attack fled to Pakistan after receiving heavy gunfire," IRNA reported, citing a statement issued by the IRGC.

The poor province of Sistan-Baluchistan is home to the Baluchi minority, a ethnic group that follows Sunni Islam rather than Shia Islam, complaining about discrimination by the authorities.

The capital city of Zahedan province, was the site of some of the deadliest riots during the wave of national protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death in the custody of the morality police.

The riots, where demonstrators from all walks of life called for the fall of Iran's ruling theocracy, have been one of the biggest challenges for Shiite-controlled Tehran since the 1979 Revolution.

A Baluchi militant group, Jaish al Adl, has previously carried out attacks on Iranian security forces in the area. Iranian authorities said the group was operating from safe shelters in Pakistan.