At least six people, including a local chief of the paramilitary revolutionary guard, were killed by unidentified gunmen in two separate attacks on Tuesday in southern Iran, according to state media.
The first attack took place in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, where the head of a town council, identified as Parviz Kadkhodaei, and two volunteer members of the guard were killed, according to state media.The incident occurred after the victims had participated in a school ceremony in the town of Nikshahar, about 1,350 kilometers (840 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.
The second attack took place in the town of Khash, in the same province, killing two police officers, state media reported.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to state media.
Earlier in September, four border guards were killed by gunmen in the province in two separate attacks. Jaish al-Adl, a militant group seeking greater rights for the ethnic Baluch minority, claimed responsibility for one of those attacks, which killed one officer and two soldiers in the border guard.
The province, one of the least developed parts of Iran, has often seen deadly clashes involving Iranian security forces, militant groups, and drug smugglers. It borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and has a history of strained relations between its predominantly Sunni Muslim residents and Iran’s Shiite theocracy.