ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iranian security forces launched a raid on residential homes in villages in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province following an attack by unidentified gunmen on a main intelligence office in the region, a rights monitor reported on Friday.
Initial clashes began at around 5:30 am, after security forces raided Bidlad and Shushgim in Rask County, the Baloch rights group Haalvsh reported, adding that clashes continued “until 10:43am” as "military and security forces continue to maintain a presence around these villages” with reports of gunfire and explosions heard.
The monitor reported footage capturing a massive explosion occurring at the building after the confrontation had ended in Manzel-Ab area of Zahedan.
Local reports indicated that the armed individuals inside the house had been killed and that “military and security forces cleared the area of bystanders before detonating the house,” according to the monitor, who was unable to ascertain the precise objective behind demolishing the building after the clash ended.
The raids come hours after the Intelligence Department’s information center building in the city of Nok-Abad, the capital of Taftan County, came under fire and was attacked by unidentified gunmen “using firearms and, likely, grenades.”
Local sources reported an explosion, with the monitor unable to verify the identities of the perpetrators, stating that no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Footage shared by the group shows visible bullet impacts on its entrance.
Tasnim news agency, an outlet affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), confirmed “the occurrence of an armed clash” between its forces and armed men in a village in Rask County in southern Sistan and Baluchestan early Friday and reported that combat forces cleared the area.
The latest clashes come after weeks of confrontations between Baluchi militants and security and intelligence forces in the region during which a number of militants and senior IRGC commanders were killed, including IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Zarifi, commander of the Shahid Sajjad Operational Base in Saravan, and Ahmad Herati Zera’ati, the base’s intelligence chief.
Four armed men were also killed, according to Tasnim.
Several days later, heavy clashes erupted on Thursday between the IRGC and Baluchi militants in Zahedan on Thursday morning, with videos published by a human rights monitoring group showing heavy gunfire in residential areas of the southeastern city.
Tasnim said six members of what it described as a Salafi militant cell were killed in the fighting.
Sistan and Baluchestan, in southeastern Iran, borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and has long faced attacks by Baloch armed groups as well as security operations by Iranian forces. It is the most underserved part of the country with little state investment.
