Iranian security forces have seized a large stockpile of weapons belonging to the Jaish ul-Adl (Army of Justice) armed group in the country’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, according to the local police commander, Hossein Rahimi.
“The depot was discovered in the heights of Kouh-i Sefid near the town of Saravan in the eastern parts of the province on last Friday,” Rahimi maintained.
“The terrorists’ arms cache included 35 Kalashnikov rifles, a 14.5-mm anti-aircraft cannon, nine SPG-9 guns as well as a large amount of ammunition,” IRNA quoted Rahimi as saying, on Saturday, July 8.
Rahimi described the operation as ‘complicated’ and ‘sophisticated’.
“The guns and ammunition confiscated were hidden to be used later for attacks against the people of the province,” the commander asserted without elaborating further.
Sistan and Baluchestan, in recent years, has been a battlefield between Iranian security forces and armed groups Iranian authorities described as “terrorists”, “drug smugglers” and “insurgents”.
Islamic Republic of Iran officials believe that the armed groups who oppose the Iranian regime are “terrorists” based in Pakistan. The groups present themselves as defenders of Sunni minority rights.
However, according to Iranian officials, “Jaish ul-Adl is a small Salafist group on the Saudi payroll.”
Iranian officials have for years chided Pakistan for harboring these armed groups, asking Islamabad to ban their activities.
Jaish ul Adl, in recent years, has claimed responsibility for many attacks against Iranian border guards, killing or kidnapping dozens of them in Sistan and Baluchestan.
“Over the past months, Iranian forces have been engaged in clashes with terror groups, thwarting their terrorist activities on the border and within the country, arresting several of them and confiscating large amounts of explosives and bomb-making materials,” reported IRNA, Iran’s official news agency.