Ten members of the Iranian security forces were killed in two attacks claimed by a jihadist group which notably targeted a police station in Sistan-Baluchistan, in the south-east of Iran, official media reported on Thursday.
“The case of terrorist attacks is now over with the deaths of ten members of the security forces and 18 terrorists
,” state television said. The authorities had established an initial toll of five members of the security forces and 15 attackers killed during the two nighttime attacks against a base of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, in Rask, and a post police station in Chabahar, near the Pakistani border.
The jihadist group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice in Arabic), based in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for these attacks via its pages on Telegram. Formed in 2012, this Sunni rebel group has carried out several attacks on Iranian soil in recent years. It is considered a
“terrorist organization”
by Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, as well as by the United States. In December, Jaish al-Adl had already claimed responsibility for an attack on a police station in Rask, which cost the lives of eleven Iranian police officers.
In mid-January, Iran carried out a strike in Pakistan, targeting the group's headquarters according to the Iranian Mehr news agency. Iran and Pakistan frequently accuse each other of allowing rebel groups to operate from their respective territories to launch attacks. Jaish al-Adl was formed by Baluch separatist activists, a minority of some 10 million predominantly Sunni people spread across Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.