TEHRAN: State media said on Thursday that 10 security officers had been killed in militant attacks in southeast Iran, close to the Pakistani border. This figure doubled from the previous report.
The attacks in Sistan-Baluchestan, a province plagued by instability involving militant organizations and drug smuggling gangs for years, were attributed to the terrorist group Jaish al-Adl, also known as the Army of Justice.
Pakistan expressed alarm about the increasing extremism in the area and vehemently denounced the attacks.
The foreign ministry in Islamabad declared, “Pakistan unequivocally condemns the heinous and dastardly terrorist attacks at police and security installations.”
“We pray for the injured and send our sincere condolences to the families of the victims.”
Pakistan “is deeply concerned about the growing acts of terrorism in our region,” the statement continued.
Iran’s official media reported that “the case of the terrorist attacks was closed with the martyrdom of 10 members of the security forces” and the execution of 18 “terrorists.”
The channel was previously informed by Majid Mirahmadi, the vice minister of the interior, that two nighttime attacks against a police post in Chabahar and a Guards facility in Rask resulted in the deaths of five police and IRGGC members.
Mirahmadi later said on state television, “The terrorists had planned to seize military bases,” and that “none of them survived” the fighting. He continued, saying that it seemed like the attackers were foreigners, but he did not elaborate.
The number of attackers slain during the fighting also increased from the fifteen that the chief of the Guards’ land troops, General Mohammad Pakpour, had previously declared on television.
The strikes were reported by Jaish al-Adl on its Telegram channel. Founded in 2012, both Iran and the US consider this group to be “terrorist.”
The gang also took credit for one of the worst attacks in recent memory, which took place at a Rask police station in December and resulted in the deaths of eleven officers. One officer was slain in an attack on the Rask police station on January 10th, according to the group.
A week later, Iran claimed to have struck Jaish al-Adl targets across the Pakistani border using drones and missiles in retaliation.
Pakistan retaliated by claiming to have launched airstrikes inside Iran against Baluchi insurgents.
Pakistan claims that at least two children were killed in the Iranian strikes, while the official IRNA news agency reports that at least nine Iranians were killed in Pakistan’s strikes.
