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A number of individuals had been injured in clashes within the restive Sistan-Baluchistan province bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan.
At the least 11 Iranian safety power members have been killed in an assault on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) headquarters within the southeastern border province of Sistan-Baluchestan, state media reported.
Iranian state TV reported on Thursday that in in a single day clashes with safety forces, 16 members of Jaish al-Adl (Military of Justice) – a Sunni armed group – had been killed.
The assault occurred in Chabahar and Rusk cities of Sistan-Baluchistan, bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera's Dorsa Jabbari stated it was one of many deadliest assaults carried out by Jaysh al-Adl.
“The gunmen concurrently attacked numerous safety and navy complexes… and so they additionally had suicide vests,” Jabbari stated. He stated the combating continued for a number of hours.
“The terrorists failed to achieve reaching their objective of capturing the Guard headquarters in Chabahar and Rusk,” Deputy Inside Minister Majid Mirhamadi advised state TV.
Ten safety officers had been injured within the combating within the poor space with a predominantly Sunni Muslim inhabitants.
Jabbari stated the assault got here at a really “essential time” for Iran, days after a suspected Israeli missile assault on its consulate in Damascus, Syria, for which Iran promised retaliation.
Monday's assault killed Brigadier-Common Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the IRGC's Quds Drive, and his deputy, Common Mohammad Hadi Hazriyahimi.
“Many questions will likely be requested about how this assault was in a position to be carried out right now,” Jabbari stated.
Jaysh al-Adl was shaped in 2012 and is blacklisted by Iran as a “terrorist” group.
The group claimed accountability for an assault in December that killed 11 officers, one of many deadliest assaults in years, within the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, about 1,400 km (875 miles) southwest of the capital Tehran. It occurred at a police station in Rusk metropolis.
It additionally stated he was behind an assault on a police station in Rusk on January 10 that left an officer useless.
Later that month, Iran attacked two of the group's bases in Pakistan with missiles, prompting a swift navy response from Islamabad, focusing on separatist armed rebels in Iran.
Jaish al-Adl says it needs extra rights and higher dwelling circumstances for the Baluchis, an ethnic minority in Shia-dominated Iran. It has claimed accountability for a number of assaults lately on Iranian safety forces in Sistan-Baluchestan.
The area has lengthy been suffering from unrest and there are frequent clashes between Iranian safety forces and Sunni militias, in addition to drug traffickers.
Iran is a significant transit route for narcotics smuggled from Afghanistan to the West and elsewhere.