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Sunday, July 22, 2007
11 Revolutionary Guards Die in Iran Clashes
July 11, 2007
The Associated Press
The New York Times
TEHRAN, Iran -- An armed group killed 11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard in clashes in the country's lawless southeast, state-run television reported Saturday.
The report said the Revolutionary Guards clashed with drug traffickers Thursday in a mountainous area near Iran's borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan and killed four of them.
A Sunni Muslim militant group called Jundallah, or God's Brigade, has been active in the area and was blamed for past attacks on Iranian troops. In February, Iran hanged a member of the group who was convicted of a bombing that killed 11 guardsmen in Zahedan, the capital of southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province.
Iran is ruled by a Shiite theocracy and a majority of its population is Shiite. But minority Sunnis live in the lawless southeast -- a key crossing point for narcotics from Afghanistan and police where drug gangs often clash.
The little-known Jundallah has waged a low-level insurgency there, led by Abdulmalak Rigi, a member of Iran's ethnic Baluchi minority. Baluchis are Sunnis and also live in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Rigi has said his group fights for impoverished Sunnis' rights.
The television reported that security forces had vowed ''tough revenge'' for the guardsmen's deaths and said the clashes erupted after the drug traffickers learned that the guardsmen planned to ambush them near Zahedan.
The official IRNA news agency said Saturday that two outlaws responsible for the deaths had been arrested.
Iran, which is locked in a standoff with the West over its nuclear program, has in the past accused the U.S. and Britain of backing militant and ethnic opposition groups in an effort to destabilize the country. The United States and Britain have denied the accusations.
link to original article
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