Gunmen kill Guards' intelligence commander in southeast Iran
Gunmen shot dead a local Revolutionary Guards intelligence commander in the town of Pishin, Rask county, in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province on Saturday night, a rights group reported.
Gunmen shot dead a local Revolutionary Guards intelligence commander in the town of Pishin, Rask county, in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province on Saturday night, a rights group reported.
The commander, identified as Iraj Shams, was gunned down inside a barbershop in the city market and died at the scene after multiple shots, Halvash -- a website covering Sistan-Baluchestan -- quoted local sources as saying.
“Around 9 p.m. in the city bazaar, when Iraj Shams was inside a barbershop, he was targeted in a shooting. Armed assailants fired repeatedly at the commander, and he died at the scene,” Halvash wrote.
The motive and identity of the attackers remain unknown and no group has claimed responsibility so far.
Shams had taken part in security missions in the Pishin area, including detentions and crowd control, local sources said.
Halvash reported that residents had accused him of involvement in arrests and repression in the district. Authorities have not provided details.
Recent clashes in Sistan-Baluchestan
In late August, separate armed clashes in the province left one Revolutionary Guards member dead and another wounded.
“Eight armed men were killed and one hostage was freed” in operations across Iranshahr, Khash and Saravan, said Brigadier General Hassan Mortazavi, commander of the Guards’ Quds base, who also reported several arrests without details.
Police spokesman Saeed Montazerolmahdi said special police units acted alongside the Guards and confirmed that one officer was killed and another wounded.
The Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl — designated a terrorist organization by both Iran and the United States — later acknowledged it had suffered casualties in those confrontations, saying details were still being verified.
Sistan-Baluchestan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been a center of insurgency by Sunni militant groups and is considered one of Iran’s most restive regions. Jaish al-Adl says it fights for greater rights for Iran’s Baluch minority; Tehran accuses it of links to cross-border militant networks.
