Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Tuesday it dismantled a militant cell responsible for kidnappings in the country’s troubled southeastern region, killing at least five of its members.
What happened: In a statement published on its website, the IRGC said it launched a surprise raid against a militant hideout in the Kurin area of Zahedan in the Sistan and Baluchistan province after a construction project engineer was kidnapped in the area on Monday.
According to the IRGC, the cell planned to transfer the engineer to a neighboring country, which it did not specify, in collaboration with “terrorist groups.” It added that five members of the cell were killed, along with one IRGC serviceman, while the engineer was freed.
The semiofficial Tasnim News Agency said the cell was affiliated with Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni militant group that has carried out multiple attacks against Iranian security and military forces in recent years.