Four Security Personnel Reported Killed In Southeastern Iran

A second lieutenant of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and three members of the paramilitary Basij force have been killed in clashes in the country’s southeast, official media report.

Citing an IRGC statement, state-run Press TV said that the four security personnel died on December 19 in an exchange of fire with “counterrevolutionary elements” in the Saravan area of Sistan and Baluchistan Province.

The official IRNA news agency said the “terrorists” fled to neighbouring Pakistan.

Sistan and Baluchistan has been the scene of some of the deadliest unrest during Iran’s nationwide protests. Security forces in the province often clash with drug smugglers and militant groups.

The impoverished province is home to a Sunni Baluch minority that has long complained of discrimination by Iran’s Shia clerical regime.