Armed separatists killed 19 individuals, together with a number of members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), at a police station in Zahedan in southeastern Iran on Friday, state media reported. No less than 32 members of the IRGC have been additionally injured within the assault, together with members of the Basij volunteer forces.
IRGC Colonel Hamidreza Hashimi, IRGC soldier Mohammad Amin Azarshokr, and Basij troopers Mohamad Amin Arefi and Saeed Borhan Rigi have been amongst these killed on the scene, in line with IRNA information company. Intelligence chief Seyyed Ali Mousavi was additionally reportedly shot in the course of the assault, later dying of his wounds.
The gunmen allegedly hid themselves amongst worshipers inside a mosque close to the station earlier than attacking, IRNA reported. Social media postings point out a number of police stations in Zahedan being seized by Baluchi “protesters” on Friday, although state media reviews don’t title the separatist group concerned within the lethal assault. Tasnim information company reported that Iranian safety forces had thwarted one other “terrorist” assault on a Zahedan police station on Friday.
It was not clear if the assaults have been related to the continuing protests within the nation over the loss of life of Mahsa Amini, a younger lady accused of sporting her hijab improperly, in police custody.
Whereas police insisted Amini died of a coronary heart assault, others declare she was crushed to loss of life, and opposition teams inside Iran have leveraged the ensuing unrest to name for regime change. Amini’s Kurdish background has made her loss of life a trigger celebre for ethnic separatist actions, and Friday’s assault occurred in Sistan and Baluchistan province, the place ethnic Baluchi separatists have beforehand attacked Iranian safety forces.
No less than 41 protesters and police have been killed since protests over Amini’s loss of life started final month, in line with Iranian state TV.
Iran’s intelligence ministry has arrested 9 foreigners related to the protests, together with French, German, Dutch, Italian, Swedish, and Polish residents. The federal government has blamed “hostile international entities” for the unrest. US-backed media and influencers have been among the many first to say Amini had been crushed, although CCTV footage from the police station the place the beating allegedly occurred solely reveals the 22-year-old arguing with an officer after which strolling away earlier than falling to the ground. The US, which overthrew Iran’s secular democratically elected authorities in 1953, has overtly sought regime change in Tehran for the reason that 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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