TEHRAN: Three members of Iran’s security forces were killed in clashes with gunmen on Saturday, state media reported, in a region plagued by violence involving armed groups and traffickers.
State television said four of the gunmen were also killed during the operation against ‘terrorists’ in Iran’s southeast.
‘During a joint operation by the Revolutionary Guards, the General Intelligence Directorate and the police, four terrorists were killed,’ it reported, citing a statement from the Guards, the ideological arm of Iran’s military.
The statement, which did not specify if the gunmen were affiliated with any organisation, said they were planning a ‘terrorist operation’ in the city of Saravan, which lies more than 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from the capital Tehran.
Iranian forces also seized ‘weapons, ammunition and explosives’, the statement added. The operation took place in SistanBaluchistan province, one of Iran’s poorest regions that borders Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Security forces regularly clash with armed groups and traffickers in the area.
On Tuesday, a commander in Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, was killed in an attack in Sistan-Baluchistan.
The region is home to a large Baloch ethnic minority.-AFP