Security forces in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan have arrested members of a terrorist group that has been behind a series of terror acts and killings of a number of civilians and Basij volunteer forces in the border areas. The arrests were made in the Sarbaz region following "a precise intelligence and surveillance operation," IRNA reported on Monday. According to the report, members of the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the army and police were involved in the operation.
It came just days after unknown gunmen killed two people in separate attacks last week in the city of Sarbaz. Just days earlier armed assailants had killed three IRGC members in an ambush near the border city of Saravan in the same province. Iran has a 300 kilometer-long stretch of joint border with Pakistan.
There has been a spate of terrorist attacks in recent years with gunmen crossing the porous border with Pakistan. Iranian officials have frequently criticized Islamabad for not taking adequate action to prevent terrorist groups from using its soil as an operation base against Iran and prevent them from crossing the common border. Iran has even hinted it may be forced to enter into Pakistani territory "to confront terrorists."
