Iran state TV: 3 intelligence agents die in operation in southeast

Three members of Iran’s intelligence agency were killed during an operation targeting an organized crime group in southeastern Iran, the country’s state TV reports.

The report does not provide further details. This is a high casualty toll for the agency, for a single operation that Iran reported.

The southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province has been scene of occasional clashes between Iranian government forces and militants as well as armed drug smugglers. The province, near the border with Pakistan, is also where a Sunni separatist group affiliated with al-Qaida and known as Jeish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, operates.

In 2019, a suicide car bombing struck a bus carrying members of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard forces, killing 27 troops. Jeish al-Adl claimed that attack. Iran says the militant group operates from across the border in Pakistan.