Iranian news websites have cited the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as saying that its forces have foiled a “twin suicide attack” in southeastern Iran, near Pakistan border.
IRGC news website, Sepahnews said the assailants tried to attack an IRGC’s border post on Sunday night, in city of Saravan, Sistan and Balouchestan province. “One of the aggressors was using a truck loaded with explosives, while the other had a suicide belt,” the IRGC affiliated news website reported.
According to another IRGC-run website, Tasnim news agency, the IRGC Ground Force’s Quds Base said in a statement, “Two terrorists were killed in the incident and two members of Baseej forces serving in the military post were wounded.”
The IRGC’s statement as said, “One of the terrorists, who was wearing an explosive belt, got off the vehicle prior to its destruction and moved toward the military post and detonated the belt and killed himself.”
However, none of the websites have elaborated on the identity of the assailants or where they came from. Furthermore, no group has claimed responsibility for the thwarted attack, so far.
Iranian security forces often claim killing, disarming or arresting armed elements but they rarely produce any evidence.
The southern part of Sistan and Balouchestan, bordering Pakistan, has been the scene of frequent clashes between Sunni Baluch militants and the Islamic Republic’s forces.
The Islamic Republic’s security forces also frequently clash with drug traffickers in the area, which is located on a major smuggling route for Afghan opium and heroin.
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly accused Islamabad of “standing idly by, ignoring the fact that Pakistan has been turned into a safe haven for armed groups to attack Iran.”
The claim about the attack preceded Foreign Minister Javad Zarif's trip to Pakistan on March 12 where he called for cooperation against "terrorism" between the two countries.
Last April, ten Iranian border guards were killed by Sunni militants in a cross-border attack, Tasnim news agency reported at the time.
The militant Sunni group Jaish al-Adl (the Army of Justice) claimed responsibility, the report said.
Nearly two weeks later, the Chairman of the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS), the IRGC Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri implicitly threatened Islamabad by insisting that, if the attacks continued, Iranian forces would enter Pakistan’s territory to demolish Jaish al-Adle bases, there.
Jaish al-Adl has carried out several attacks on Iranian forces with the aim of highlighting what they maintain is discrimination against Iranian Sunni Muslims and the Baluch ethnic group in the province.
