At least nine people were killed in an armed attack by the Sunni Jaish al-Adl Baluch group on a courthouse in Iran’s restive Sistan-Baluchestan province on Saturday, including three of the assailants, state media reported.
Another 22 were injured, according to the report.
Jaish al-Adl confirmed the deaths of its three members in the clashes with security forces in Zahedan, the capital of the far southeastern province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan. Sistan-Baluchestan is home to Iran’s Sunni Muslim Baluch minority, who have long complained of economic marginalisation and political exclusion.
A toddler and a 60-year-old woman were among those killed, as well as three soldiers and law enforcement personnel assigned to the courthouse, the head of the province’s judiciary told IRNA. He did not identify the sixth dead person.
He said the attackers wore explosive vests and carried grenades. It was not clear if they had detonated them.
Jaish al-Adl, which claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its Telegram account, said it had killed at least 30 members of the judiciary and security forces. It said it targeted judges and court personnel, whom it accused of issuing death sentences and house demolition orders to Baluch citizens.
“We warn all judges and employees of the judiciary that Baluchestan will no longer be a safe place for them and death will follow them like terrifying shadows until retribution,” the group said in its statement.
It blamed security forces for the deaths of civilians, saying they had fired indiscriminately.
The Baluch human rights group HAALVSH, quoting eyewitnesses, said several judiciary staff members and security personnel were killed or wounded when the assailants stormed the judges’ chambers.
Sistan-Baluchestan is frequently hit by clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy. Tehran accuses some of them of ties to foreign powers and involvement in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.
Source: Reuters
--Agencies
