10 Iran Revolutionary Guards killed in border clash

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said at least 10 members were killed in an insurgent attack long the border with Iraq.

2 min read

21 July, 2018

The attack targeted an IRGC base along the Iraq border [Getty]

At least 10 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards were killed when insurgents attacked one of their bases along the border with Iraq, the force said in a statement on Saturday.

The attack happened on Friday night in the village of Dari, in the Marivan district of Iran's northwestern Kurdistan region.

"The attack by the evil rebels and terrorists against a revolutionary border post and the explosion of a munitions depot caused the martyrdom of 10 fighters," the Guards' ground forces division said in the statement.

There was some confusion over the announcement, as the statement listed 11 names of "martyred" soldiers.

It added that "several terrorists" had also been killed and injured in the clash.

"A merciless vengeance awaits them," the statement added.

In June, three border guards were killed in a clash with a "terrorist group" in southeastern Iran, the country's semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The clash took place in Mirjaveh, a town in Sistan and Baluchestan Province near the Pakistani border, some 1,150 kilometers (715 miles) southeast of Tehran.

The area has been the scene of occasional clashes over the years between Iranian forces and militant groups believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Sistan-Baluchestan is majority Sunni and home to the Baluchi speaking ethnic minority.

From 2005 to 2010, the militant Jundallah group - made up of Baluchi-speakers who are found on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border - waged an insurgency in Sistan-Baluchestan.

Violence in the area was largely curbed after its leader Abdulmalik Rigi was killed in 2010.

The province also lies on a major smuggling route for Afghan opium and heroin.

Violence has sporadically cropped up since 2010 in Sistan-Baluchestan. In April 2017, ten Iranians were killed by militants in Mirjaveh.

Iran has criticised Pakistan for supporting the Jaysh al-Adl - formed in 2012 by prior Jundallah members - which it says is tied to al-Qaeda and is responsible for numerous attacks in the province.