Iran says 13 militants in Baluchestan killed as insurgents exploit postwar weakness
The large-scale operation in Sistan-Baluchestan underscores persistent instability in the volatile, impoverished province, where Sunni militants have intensified attacks since the Iran-Israel conflict.
TEHRAN — Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that its forces had killed at least 13 militants and captured several others in a series of coordinated raids across the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, in one of the deadliest confrontations with insurgents in months.
The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported that the operation was carried out jointly with the Intelligence Ministry and police, targeting suspected militant hideouts in the cities of Iranshahr, Khash and Saravan.
The predawn operation was spearheaded by the IRGC's Quds Base, a command center responsible for security in the province. The base commander, Brig. Gen. Hassan Mortazavi, said in a live interview with state TV that a cache of weapons was also seized in Iranshahr, while in Saravan a hostage held by the group was freed.
He described the operation as a "decisive and swift" response to an ambush last week in Iranshahr, in which five police officers were killed. The Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl, which has mounted dozens of attacks on Iranian security forces over the past decade, claimed responsibility for the assault.
