Two Iranian civilians killed in cross-border ‘terrorist attack’
July 16, 2017
TEHRAN: Two Iranian civilians were killed in a cross-border attack by insurgents, the Revolutionary Guards said.
“On Saturday evening, a terrorist team… fired [ammunition] from within Pakistani territory towards the Iranian border region of Saravan, in Sistan-Baluchistan province, the Guards said in a statement on their Sepahnews website. “Two local workers in the region were martyred in this terrorist attack,” it added.
Forces from the Quds force – the Guards’ foreign operations wing – killed one of the attackers and wounded two, while others fled back into Pakistani territory, the communique added.
The insurgent group was not identified, but for years the region has been the site of frequent attacks by the Jaish al Adl militant group, which Tehran claims has links to al Qaeda and is based in Balochistan.
Jaish al Adl was blamed for an attack in April that killed 10 Iranian border guards in the nearby Mirjaveh region.
President Hassan Rowhani wrote to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif calling for greater efforts to prevent insurgent attacks along the border.
The Guards also said on June 19 that they had killed the leader and four members of another militant group called Ansar al Furqan in the Iranian port city of Chabahar in Sistan-Balochistan province.
