Two Iranian police officers, including a conscript, lost their lives when gunmen targeted their station in the city of Taftan, located in the restive Sistan and Baluchestan province in southeastern Iran.
The Iranian government labeled this attack as an act of terrorism while the gunmen responsible remain at large.
The Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Intelligence issued a joint statement claiming the act was carried out by a network involved in "disruptive activities."
The statement, while lacking specific names or evidence, asserted that they had identified and targeted several members of the network, which it claimed had "financial support purportedly from the US Department of State.”
It also claimed members of the network had been providing free online training to activists in the women's and civil society sectors, both within and outside Iran, though there was no clear evidence given.
Furthermore, the intelligence organizations alleged that the group had recently conducted a training workshop for women's sector activists in May at a university in England with more planned this month, targeting civil activists and women in the online sphere with the intention to create more domestic uprising.
There have been reports of numerous attacks on military and government forces in the province in the past and since nationwide protests broke out in September 2022. The provincial capital Zahedan was the scene of a government massacre when around 90 citizens were gunned down during a protests September 30.
