According to state television on Saturday, Iranian authorities killed six militants in a raid in the unrest-plagued southeast, claiming they belonged to a “terrorist” organization associated with Israel, their arch-enemy.
“During an intense exchange of fire with terrorists in Sistan-Baluchistan province, six assailants were killed and two others arrested,” official news agency IRNA said, citing a statement from the intelligence services.
The report did not provide an exact location or say when the raid took place.
Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been a flashpoint for clashes between security forces and armed groups, including drug traffickers and separatists.
IRNA said there were “documents” indicating “the Zionist nature” of the group targeted in the latest raid, adding that its members had planned to attack a “vital” facility in Iran’s east, without elaborating.
The report said that “the main operation team” was composed of “seven non-Iranian terrorists”, but did not specify their nationality.
According to IRNA, the gunfight injured a police officer and two intelligence officers.
Iran frequently reports that police officers or members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are the targets of lethal ambushes in the area.
Five police officers were murdered in an attack in Sistan-Baluchistan on Friday, according to the Sunni jihadist organization Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), which Tehran bans as a “terrorist” outfit.
Iranian state media reported on Sunday that seven members of Ansar al-Furqan, another jihadist organization, had been slain by security forces in Sistan-Baluchistan.
The province, which is home to a large Sunni Muslim Baluch minority, is one of the poorest regions of the Shiite-majority country.
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