Iranian forces kill six 'militants linked to Israel'

TEHRAN: Iranian security forces have killed six militants in a raid in the country’s restive southeast province of Sistan-Baluchistan, state media reported on Saturday.

Authorities said the group was affiliated with Israel and plotting to strike a key facility inside Iran.

According to the official news agency IRNA, the raid led to an “intense exchange of fire” in which six assailants were killed and two others arrested.

The operation also left two intelligence officers and one police officer wounded. The exact location and timing of the raid were not disclosed.

Iran’s intelligence services claimed that documents recovered from the militants confirmed the group’s “Zionist links.” Officials alleged that the cell consisted mainly of “seven non-Iranian terrorists,” though their nationalities were not revealed.

The crackdown comes amid escalating violence in Sistan-Baluchistan, a province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan that has long witnessed clashes between Iranian forces, drug traffickers, and separatist groups.

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The region is also home to the Sunni militant outfit Jaish al-Adl, which on Friday claimed responsibility for an ambush that killed five Iranian police officers.

Just a day later, Iranian state media reported that security forces had killed seven fighters from another banned jihadist group, Ansar al-Furqan, in the same province.

Home to a significant Sunni Baluch minority, Sistan-Baluchistan remains one of Iran’s most volatile and impoverished regions, frequently targeted by militant groups opposed to Tehran.