Separatists in Iran kill up to 19, including guard commander
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian statelinked media reported late Friday that up to 19 people, including a commander in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, were killed in an attack by armed separatists on a police base in the eastern city of Zahedan.
It was not immediately clear if the attack, which unfolded earlier in the day as crowds had gathered at a nearby mosque for Friday prayers, was related to the nationwide antigovernment protests gripping Iran. The reports did not identify the separatist group.
In a separate development, Iran said it has arrested nine foreigners linked to the protests, which authorities have blamed on hostile foreign entities, without providing evidence.
State TV said armed separatists concealed themselves among worshippers and attacked a police base near the mosque in Zahedan. The state-run IRNA news agency cited witnesses as saying that 19 people were killed and 15 wounded, but there was no official confirmation.
The semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported that the head of the guard’s intelligence department, Seyyed Ali Mousavi, was shot during the attack and later died.
The Sistan and Baluchestan province borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, and has seen previous attacks on security forces by ethnic Baluchi separatists.
Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets over the last two weeks in protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by the morality police in the capital, Tehran, for allegedly wearing her mandatory Islamic headscarf too loosely.
The protesters have vented anger over the treatment of women and wider repression in the Islamic Republic. The nationwide demonstrations rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the clerical establishment that has ruled Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution.
The protests have drawn supporters from various ethnic groups, including Kurdish opposition movements in the northwest that operate along the border with neighboring Iraq. Amini was an Iranian Kurd, and the protests first erupted in Kurdish areas.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said the nine foreigners arrested include citizens of Germany, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Sweden, state news agency IRNA reported. It was not immediately clear if they were Iranians with dual citizenship.
The ministry did not provide evidence for any of its claims.
Iran has detained a number of Iranians with dual citizenship over the years, accusing them of spying or otherwise undermining national security. Critics accuse Iran of using such detainees as bargaining chips to secure concessions from the international community.
A number of Europeans were detained in Iran in recent months, including a Swedish tourist, a Polish scientist and others. Two French citizens arrested in June are accused of meeting with protesting teachers and taking part in an antigovernment rally.