By Unidentified gunmen carried out two separate attacks in Iran’s southern province of Sistan and Baluchistan on Tuesday, killing six people, including a local chief of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state television reported.
The first attack occurred in Nikshahar town, approximately 1,350 kilometers (840 miles) southeast of Tehran, following a school ceremony. Among the victims were the town council chief, Parviz Kadkhodaei, and two volunteer members of the Revolutionary Guard.
“This cowardly act of violence has shocked our community,” said a local official who requested anonymity due to security concerns. “We are working diligently to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
In a second incident in Khash town, also in Sistan and Baluchistan province, two police officers were killed. Authorities have not yet linked the two attacks.
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for either attack. However, the region has a history of unrest, with the militant group Jaish al-Adl, which seeks greater rights for the ethnic Baluch minority, having claimed responsibility for similar incidents in the past.
In September, Jaish al-Adl took credit for an attack that killed one officer and two soldiers of the border guard in the same province.
Sistan and Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, has long been a hotspot for clashes involving militant groups, drug smugglers, and Iranian security forces. The province is one of Iran’s least developed regions, and tensions between the predominantly Sunni Muslim residents and Iran’s Shiite theocracy have been persistent.
