Four alleged "terrorists" and three members of the security forces have died during an intelligence operation by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the district of Saravan, in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan, according to an official statement released by the authorities.
"A professional terrorist team attempting to carry out terrorist operations in Saravan was attacked today at dawn," reported the Revolutionary Guard, as cited by the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
In the operation against these "traitors to the homeland," the Quds Force — elite unit of the Revolutionary Guard — the Police, and the General Directorate of Intelligence intervened, seizing various weapons, ammunition, and explosive materials during the search.
"The United States and the vile Zionist regime, after suffering a crushing military defeat, have ordered terrorist groups to hide their failures by generating insecurity in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan," warned the Revolutionary Guard.
Media linked to the opposition have indicated that the clashes began before dawn in the municipality of Bajshan and continued for about eight hours, even reaching the nearby Grand Mosque of Madani. Those sources also point out that the militants attacked three military vehicles and two concentrations of the security forces.
In Sistan and Baluchistan resides the Baluch minority, of Sunni faith compared to the Shiite majority of Iran, in a region marked for decades by episodes of armed insurgency.