Two Security Officials Killed in Separate Attacks Near Iran's Key Chabahar Port

At least two Iranian security personnel have been killed in separate incidents along the country’s eastern border with Pakistan, adding to a string of attacks near the critical Chabahar port over the past few weeks. An officer commanding a women’s unit in Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, which is part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC), was shot and killed outside her home in the Mehrestan district of Sistan-Baluchestan province on Wednesday, according to Tasnim news agency. In a separate incident, another officer was killed in an attack on a police vehicle, also in Mehrestan, a region close to Iran’s border with Pakistan.

On Wednesday, Haalvash, a rights group that focuses on the region’s Baluch ethnic minority, reported that military helicopters were observed circling over the city of Iranshahr, and indicated that the security situation remained tense in several locations. Sistan-Baluchestan province is home to the critical Chabahar port on Iran’s eastern flank. US forces conducted air strikes targeting infrastructure and naval control facilities in this area in July.

In recent months, the region has experienced multiple attacks attributed by the Iranian government to “terrorist outfits” allegedly funded and supported from abroad. Last week, gunmen killed one person and injured three others while attacking a minibus carrying security personnel from a division stationed along the Makran coast, according to the official IRNA news agency. In another incident, IRNA reported that “several terrorists” killed a police officer during an attack on a patrolling convoy.

Earlier this month, the IRGC’s Al Quds Force announced it had killed at least two suspected attackers and dismantled an alleged “terrorist cell” in an operation near Chabahar port. The IRGC stated that the operation was launched after the group was responsible for the death of a member of Iran’s security forces at a checkpoint near the city of Rasak. During the operation in the group’s mountainous hideout, the IRGC reported recovering a Starlink device and a substantial quantity of weapons.