TEHRAN – The Sistan-Baluchistan provincial branch of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced on Monday that four security forces lost their lives in clashes in the province.

In a statement on Monday, the IRGC said its provincial forces in the border region of Saravan clashed with members of a terrorist group that fled into Pakistan as a result of heavy fire from the IRGC. 

An IRGC officer named Mohammad Goudarzi and three Basij members identified as Rahim Bakhsh Paraki, Hamidreza Abedi, and Mahmoud Nik-Khah were martyred in the clashes, IRNA reported. 

The clashes come after deadly unrest in the restive province of Sistan-Baluchistan. During the recent wave of unrest that erupted in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini, dozens of individuals were killed in the province. 

In early December, a conscript was martyred and another wounded in a deadly shooting in the border province. The two conscripts were targeted at night in the port city of Chabahar, southeast Iran.

According to Iranian media, two gunmen shot at the conscripts who were in the line of duty. One conscript identified as Aref Hooti lost his life as a result of the shooting and the other one, Benyamin Fazeli, was shot in the shoulder and received treatment in a local hospital.

Recently, a delegation from the office of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, traveled to the province to closely look into the unrest in the province. 

After the trip, the delegation issued a statement on the recent incidents in the province. It is highlighted in the statement that “after accurate investigations of the recent uprisings in the region, a delegation dispatched to the strife-torn regions, conducted a survey surrounding the recent disturbances and made a final report.” 

It added, “After having several meetings with high-prolife figures of the province, the final report was tendered to the Leader of Islamic Revolution.”

“We came to convey the Leader’s grief over the tragedies that occurred” in the province, said Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari, the head of the delegation.

Haj Ali Akbari traveled to Zahedan, the provincial capital, at the behest of Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in mid-November. He said the Leader had requested an accurate investigation into the recent incidents in the border province.

He was dispatched to the province in his capacity as an envoy from the office of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.