The explosion took place at 9:30 am in one of Saravan city’s squares in the country’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, according to the IRGC’s Quds Headquarters, the unit responsible for the area. In a statement published on state media outlet IRNA, they attributed the attack to a “terrorist” group affiliated with the “world arrogance”, a common reference they use to Iran’s arch-enemy the United States.
While the state media did not specify whether the killed and injured were civilians, a human right monitor reports that the four individuals affected by the attack were part of Iran’s Basiji paramilitary group.
“Following the explosion of a stun grenade installed on a motorbike in Kozah square in Saravan, four members of the Basij were killed and wounded,” reads a statement released on Telegram from the Baloch campaign, which monitors human rights violations in areas in southeast Iran, where the ethnic group predominantly resides in.
Purported videos from the scene published by the watchdog show the lifeless body of a young man with blood on the ground, as several men in Balochi baggy attire look on. Tasnim news, an outlet affiliated with the IRGC, published videos and photos of a pick-up truck that was reportedly targeted in the explosion.
“The conditions of the three individuals who were wounded in the terrorist attack … are satisfactory,” Dr Abolhassan Safdari, the head of Razi Hospital, where the three are treated, was quoted as saying by IRNA. Safdari said that one of the wounded was released from hospital after receiving treatment and the two others, including a pregnant woman, are being cared for.
Sistan and Baluchestan province is considered one of the most economically disadvantaged parts of the country, where a lack of government investment has left the majority of the people destitute, and tens of thousands of people without running water or electricity. There are a number of Balochi armed groups active in the area that carry out bombings and suicide attacks on regular basis. No group has taken responsibility for the attack on Sunday.
Saravan is a volatile part of the province, where thousands of young Balochi men are involved in the transportation of untaxed fuel across the borders into Afghanistan and Pakistan to make a living for their families. Earlier this month the IRCG killed at least ten fuel traders which led to several days of rioting by angry protesters, setting police stations and government offices on fire.
