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Tehran:
Jihadist attacks in southeastern Iran near Pakistan killed 10 Iranian security personnel, double the previous death toll, state media reported on Thursday.
The death toll was nearly as high as a similar attack in December, in which the same group claimed responsibility and subsequently launched tit-for-tat airstrikes in neighboring Pakistan.
The attack occurred in Sistan-Balochistan province, which has faced years of unrest involving drug smuggling gangs, ethnic Baluch rebels and Sunni Muslim extremists.
“The terrorist attack ended with the sacrifice of 10 members of the security forces and the killing of 18 ‘terrorists,'” state television said.
Deputy Interior Minister Majid Milahmadi earlier told the channel that five members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and police were involved in two nighttime attacks targeting a Guards base in Lask and a police post in Chabahar Loss of life.
Milahmadi later told state television that “the terrorists planned to seize the military base,” adding that “none of them survived.”
He warned that the death toll could rise due to the “poor condition” of some security forces injured in the attack.
He added that the attackers appeared to be foreigners, but gave no further details.
Guards Army Commander General Mohammad Parkpur announced on television that the number of attackers killed in the clashes was 15.
The Jaish al-Adl (Arabic-speaking Justice Army) group claimed responsibility for the attack on its Telegram channel.
The Pakistan-based Sunni Muslim rebel group was founded in 2012 and is classified as a “terrorist” organization by Iran and the United States.
Jaish al-Adl claimed an attack in December on a police station in the city of Rask in Sistan-Balochistan province that killed 11 police officers was one of the deadliest attacks in years.
The group claimed there was another attack on a police station in Lusk on January 10 that resulted in the death of a police officer.
A week later, Iran said it retaliated with missiles and drones targeting the Jaish Adel over the Pakistani border. Pakistan later said it carried out airstrikes against ethnic separatists in Iran.
An Iranian airstrike killed at least two children, according to Pakistan, while at least nine people in Iran were killed in a Pakistani airstrike, Iran’s official news agency reported.
Rare cross-border fires heightened regional tensions during Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, but by late January the two countries sought to ease the pressure.
Balochistan’s porous border region is bisected by Iran and Pakistan.
The impoverished Sistan-Balochistan province, which also borders Afghanistan, is one of the few Sunni provinces in Shia-dominated Iran.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
