Balochistan: Group claims attack on Fatemiyoun-linked vehicle, military assault on base
DOZZAAP (ZAHEDAN): An armed group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a vehicle it said was linked to Fatemiyoun forces in southeastern Iran and reported a separate assault by Iranian security forces on one of its bases.
The People’s Fighters Front (PFF) said in two statements that the incidents occurred Friday in Zahedan and Rask County, in Iranian-occupied Balochistan, also commonly known as Iran’s Sistan and Balochistan province.
The group said a patrol vehicle belonging to Fatemiyoun forces was struck by a mine in the Roudmahi area of Zahedan early Friday, killing five people aboard.
Fatemiyoun is an Afghan Shiite militia that has fought alongside forces supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during Syria’s civil war and has been linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The People’s Fighters Front described Fatemiyoun members as “mercenaries” of the Iranian government and alleged that they had been deployed in several parts of Iran, including the Iranian-occupied Balochistan region.
In a separate statement, the group said Iranian military forces attacked one of its mountain bases in the Parud district of Rask County using drones, artillery and hundreds of personnel from Rask, Sarbaz, Qasrqand and Nikshahr.
The group claimed that several attack and surveillance drones and heavy artillery were used in the operation. It said government forces withdrew after clashes and that 15 members of the group who had been based there moved into nearby mountainous areas.
Iranian security officials, meanwhile, said two armed men were killed during clashes in Rask County, according to the report. The officials did not provide photographs or other evidence supporting the claim.
Media outlets affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps separately reported that one of the Fatemiyoun members killed in the Zahedan incident was an Afghan national identified as Ahmad Yaqoubi.
