Iran: Militant Group ‘Broken Up’ in Baluchistan - UPDATE

Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported today that IRGC has “broken up” a militant group in the Iranian Baluchistan. The report did not give any more information on the group, but said it was linked to a “foreign intelligence agency.”  IRGC reportedly confiscated “a large amount of weapons and communication equipment” from the militants. (IRNA, 6 April)

UPDATE: Iranian news agencies are reporting that 8 Iranian NAJA border guards were killed today in an attack by the militants in Baluchistan near the border with Pakistan. No further details were available.

UPDATE: Iranian Baluch militant group Jaish Ul-Adl has taken responsibility for the attack on Iranian border post that killed eight NAJA guards.

File photo: Iran's NAJA border guard in Baluchistan (FNA)

Iranian Baluch Insurgent Leader Arrested in Pakistan

Jaish ul-Adl leader Salam Rigi was arrested in Pakistan while traveling by Bus in the country’s southwest. Salam led the Iranian-Baluch Sunni militant organization Jaish ul-Adl (Army of Justice), which has conducted a number of terrorist attacks against Iranian security forces in the Iranian Baluchistan in the past two years, including kidnapping of 5 border guards and killing of one of them last year. Jaish ul-Adl is the successor to Jundallah. Salam Rigi’s cousin, Abdolrahman Rigi, headed that organization before he was kidnapped by Iranian security forces and brought to Iran and hanged in 2010.  

File photo: Iranian border guards kidnapped by Jaish ul-Adl, February 2014. (pic.twitter.com/DBAeR59YVY)

Three IRGC Officers Killed in Baluchistan

Three IRGC officers were killed in an attack by armed men on a border post near the city of Saravan in Iranian Baluchistan late on Sunday. The Iranian media called the attackers either “armed bandits” or “terrorists.” It was not clear if they belonged to the Iranian Baluch insurgent group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) that has been fighting the security forces in the region from their sanctuaries inside Pakistan.

File photo: An Iranian border guard in Baluchistan (FNA)

Three Members of Iran's Law Enforcement Force Killed in Baluchistan

Fars News Agency reported that three members of Islamic Republic’s Law Enforcement Force ("NAJA") were killed in the town Zahak in restive Iranian Baluchistan on Tuesday 25 November. The policemen were gunned down while on patrol. Fars said the attackers on two different vehicles approached NAJA members, opened fired and escaped from the scene. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

File photo: NAJA security force in Iran’s Sistan va Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan. (FNA)

Iran Warns Pakistan against Insurgent Activities on Iran Border

IRGC Deputy Commander Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami said today that the Iranian military may enter Pakistani territory in pursuit of Iranian Baluch insurgent group Jaish al-Adl if the Pakistani government does not take concrete actions against them. In recent months, the militant group has carried out several armed attacks on border posts in Iranian Baluchistan. Four LEF officers were killed in two separate attacks in border city of Saravan on 8-9 October.

Last week an LEF aircraft carrying several senior LEF officers crashed near Zahedan, the provincial capital. The LEF team was to visit the area to investigate the recent attacks by the insurgents.

Jaish al-Adl (“Army of Justice”) and its predecessor organization, the Jundallah, have waged an armed struggle against the Islamic Republic, employing terrorism, kidnapping and armed attacks on LEF. The group says it is fighting against the government for its sectarian anti-Sunni policies and to protect the Sunni rights in Baluchistan.  

IRGC’s Gen. Salami said that maintaining border security should be an important common issue between Iran and Pakistan.

“We do not interfere in the affairs of any country, but if they do not fulfill their obligations we have to act,” Salami said. (IRNA/Trend, 16 October)

File photo: An Iranian border guard in Baluchistan (FNA)

Wreckage of Iran Police Aviation Rockwell 690 Turbo Commander

Wreckage of Islamic Republic of Iran Police Force (IRIPF) Aviation Rockwell 690 Turbo Commander, dated 12OCT14 near Zahedan.

Images published by Mehr News Agency depict remains of forward fuselage section

Image provided by Mashregh News of broken-off right wing section, in a residential setting

 

File photo of Islamic Republic of Iran Police Force (IRIPF) Aviation Rockwell 690 Turbo Commander (photo: Taha Ashoori).

Iran’s NAJA Aircraft Crashes in Baluchistan

An Iranian Law Enforcement Forces (NAJA) airplane flying to the country’s restive Baluchistan province crashed in the mountainous area outside Zahedan on Saturday night, killing all seven aboard, including three NAJA commanders.

The propeller Turbo Commander airplane took off from Tehran to investigate multiple raids on border guard posts that have killed five guards since Wednesday, Fars News Agency reported. 

A border guard commander told Fars News that the plane was not downed by a missile or other weaponry.

File photo: An Aero Commander 690A turboprop, similar to the one operated by NAJA (Rockwell/Wiki)

 690A Turbo Commander aircraft

Iran Security Forces May be Sent Into Pakistan to Free Border Guards

Baluch Militant Group Taking Five Guards Hostage

Iran said today it would send its security forces into Pakistan to free kidnapped border guards if Islamabad did not take measures to secure their release.

“If Pakistan doesn't take the needed steps to fight against the terrorist groups, we will send our forces into Pakistani soil. We will not wait for this country,” said Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli. (Mehr News Agency/Reuters, 17 February)

Iranian Baluch militant group Jaish ul-Adl (“Army of Justice”), the apparent successor to Jundallah, on Sunday 9 February took responsibility for kidnapping five Iranian border guards by posting group photos and videos of them on their Twitter account. The group operates on both sides of Iran-Pakistan border in Greater Baluchistan area.

Photo credit: Iranian border guards kidnapped by Jaish ul-Adl, presumably in Pakistani side of Baluchistan. (pic.twitter.com/DBAeR59YVY)