loading…
An IRGC officer was shot dead in southeastern Iran a day after Tehran launched missile and drone attacks on Pakistani territory. Photo/REUTERS
TEHERAN – An officer from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was shot dead in the country’s restive southeastern region on Wednesday. It came a day after Tehran attacked Pakistani territory claiming to target the headquarters of the Jaish al-Adl militant group.
Quoting from the IRNA report, Thursday (18/1/2024), Colonel Hossein-Ali Javdanfar was shot dead in Sistan-Baluchistan province, Iran. The report described it as a “terrorist attack”.
Iranian authorities are working to identify the attackers.
On Tuesday, Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Pakistani territory claiming to target the headquarters of Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), a militant group opposed to Tehran.
Pakistan strongly condemned the attack on its territory and said two children were killed as a result of the attack. Islamabad also said it had withdrawn its ambassador from Tehran in protest.
Jaish al-Adl, which was formed in 2012 and labeled a terrorist organization by Tehran, claims to advocate greater rights and improved living conditions for ethnic Baluchis in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The region has seen numerous attacks by the group against Iranian security forces over the years.
Last month, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for an attack on a police station in Sistan-Baluchistan that killed at least 11 Iranian police.
Sistan-Baluchistan has a history of clashes between Iranian security forces and Sunni militant groups, as well as drug traffickers.
The province is one of Iran’s poorest regions and is mostly inhabited by ethnic Sunni Baluchi Muslims, a minority in the majority Shiite Muslim country.
(but)