Iran Basij commander killed in attack, media says

A local commander in Iran's Basij paramilitary force was killed on September 8 in what Tasnim news agency described as a terrorist attack in Sistan-Baluchistan province.

Tasnim identified the commander as Abdolraouf Eshaghi, a commander in the Parud district, but gave no details of the attack. No group was immediately identified as responsible.

Iranian authorities said on September 7 that three people were killed and nine arrested during a raid in the province on hideouts of Islamist groups affiliated with Israel and the United States.

Sistan-Baluchistan borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and has long seen clashes between Iranian security forces, insurgents and drug smugglers. It is one of Iran's poorest provinces and is home to a sizeable ethnic Baloch population, most of whom are Sunni Muslims in Shia-majority Iran.