ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least two members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and several personnel affiliated with Iran-backed armed militias were killed in two separate attacks in the Sistan-Baluchestan province on Monday, a rights watchdog reported.
The attacks come as Iran faces rising tensions on several fronts, including with Baluch armed groups in the southeast and Kurdish armed groups in the west, against the backdrop of mounting pressure from a potential resumption in hostilities with the United States and Israel.
In the first attack, "a Toyota Hilux carrying IRGC personnel was targeted by armed men in the Kalgan area of Golshan County on Monday," Haalvsh, a human rights group monitoring the Baloch community, reported. Citing eyewitnesses at the scene, the watchdog said "the vehicle had at least three occupants; two were killed and another was seriously wounded."
The second attack targeted personnel affiliated with the Iran-backed Fatemiyoun and Zainabiyoun militias – comprised of Shia Afghan and Shia Pakistani militants, respectively – at a school in Bir village, Konarak County, in the same province, Haalvsh reported several hours after the first attack.
The watchdog said two motorcycles carrying armed men entered the village at around 4 pm and opened fire on personnel stationed at the school, leaving several people dead and wounded. However, the exact number of casualties and the identities of those killed have not been independently verified.
"At the same time as the clash broke out, a number of Basij members and local informants also left their positions to confront the attackers and were present around the clash site," Haalvsh stated.
The school, known as Bir Sofla, was being used as a base for personnel affiliated with the Fatemiyoun and Zainabiyoun militias, the monitor said.
Iranian state media also reported the attack on the vehicle in Sistan and Baluchestan province but provided no information about casualties. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) stated that Jaish al-Adl, a Baloch armed group, was responsible for the attack, saying its members had targeted a vehicle belonging to “ordinary citizens, including several engineers.”
The attacks coincide with armed confrontations in Iran’s west with Kurdish opposition groups.
In western Iran, the IRGC has shelled parts of Shaho Mountain for the past two days, damaging the mountain's wildlife and forests, the France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported on Sunday.
Clashes between the IRGC and the Eastern Kurdistan Units (YRK), the armed wing of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), have intensified in recent weeks.
YRK said earlier in October that its forces had conducted an operation against an IRGC military base in response to Iranian attacks in the Shaho mountain range and Mariwan County in Kurdistan province in western Iran, according to a statement published on PJAK's website.
KHRN reported on the same day that IRGC forces and military convoys carrying heavy and semi-heavy weapons had been deployed from other provinces to several cities in Iran's Kurdish region, including Sanandaj, Kamyaran, Sarvabad, Mariwan and Baneh.
Iran has deployed artillery and heavy weaponry to Kurdish areas in the west amid growing fears of a wider conflict with Israel and the United States, as the IRGC intensifies operations against armed opposition groups along the country's western and southeastern frontiers.
