Terrorist Members Killed in Sistan and Baluchestan Clashes
TEHRAN -- An informed Iranian intelligence source says two members of a group affiliated with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group have been killed in clashes in southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
Citing an unnamed intelligence source, Iran’s Fars news agency said Abdul-Majid Rigi and Yaser Shah Bakhsh — two members of Jaish al-Zulm terrorist group — were killed by Iranian military forces in the provincial capital Zahedan on Friday.
The terrorist group claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a police station in the southeastern city earlier on Friday, during which unidentified gunmen opened fire and hurled Molotov cocktails at the security facility, prompting the police forces to return fire.
Following the attack on the police station in Zahedan, an armed group gathered near the Makki mosque and started shooting, which prompted the security forces to immediately rush to the scene.
The terrorists also torched a fire engine, an emergency station, and a bank, among other places in the city but their attempts to continue rioting failed following the timely presence of security forces.
Ali Mousavi, commander of the intelligence unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the southeastern province, was martyred in clashes with the terrorists in the attack on the Makki mosque.
Mousavi was injured by a bullet in the chest and was taken to the hospital, but he succumbed to his wound.
Sistan and Baluchestan Governor Hussein Modarres Khiabani said at least 19 people, including police members, were killed and 20 injured in the terrorist attack at the police station in Zahedan.
Fars news agency reported on Saturday that three members of the IRGC and Basij military volunteer forces were among theses martyred in the terrorist attack in Zahedan.
Sistan and Baluchestan – which borders Pakistan -- has witnessed several terror attacks targeting both civilians and security forces over the past years.
Terrorist groups carrying out attacks against Iranian interests in southeastern and southwestern parts of the country have known links to a number of repressive regimes in the Persian Gulf region.
Iran’s security forces have invariably protected the border areas and managed to repel almost the entire terrorist attacks by foreign-backed anti-revolution elements across the country.
U.S., UK Directly
Involved in Riots
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said the United States and the United Kingdom are “directly” involved in the recent riots across the country.
Dozens of terrorists affiliated with the Zionist regime and anti-revolution groups have been detained during the recent days of unrest, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry underscored the behind-the-scene circumstances surrounding the foreign-backed riots that followed the death of a 22-year-old woman, named Mahsa Amini, who collapsed in a police station and died in hospital despite intensive medical care and resuscitation efforts.
Violent protests erupted across the country. Security officers were attacked. Public property as well as police vehicles and ambulances were vandalized.
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry said major elements behind the riots were largely foreign citizens, members of the anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), and individuals working with other anti-revolution terror outfits.
“In the past days, the forces maintaining the country’s order and security have faced a diversity of cult-like groups, agents of foreign spy agencies as well as direct involvement of the American and British governments and their Saudi followers; and fooled agents of rioters on the streets,” the statement said.
The ministry said 49 MKO terrorists have been arrested for actively propagating fake news, inciting the rioters to organize acts of terror and destruction, directing slogans and being present on the streets to damage public property.
Seventy-seven members of anti-Iran terrorist groups have also been arrested in the Iraqi Kurdistan.
The statement pointed to the detention of five members of takfiri terrorist outfits with 36 kilograms of explosives that were to be used to carry out bombings in gatherings.
The ministry further said 92 people affiliated with the former U.S.-backed Pahlavi regime have been identified and arrested in the riots. It said nine nationals from Germany, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden, among others, were arrested during the riots.
A significant number of pistols, various types of machine guns and cartridges as well as shotguns and ammunition were also seized.