From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Masked gunmen kill local commander of Iran’s security forces
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleTEHRAN, Iran — Masked gunmen ambush and kill the local commander of a paramilitary security force in southwestern Iran, an associate of Iran’s top general recently killed in an American drone strike in Baghdad, the official IRNA news agency reports.
The slain commander, Abdolhossein Mojaddami, headed the Basij forces, a paramilitary wing of the Revolutionary Guard used for internal security and other tasks, in the town of Darkhoein. He is gunned down in front of his home in the town in the country’s oil rich Khuzestan province.
Two gunmen on a motorcycle, armed with an assault rifle and a hunting rifle, ambushed Mojaddami, IRNA reports. Other Iranian media say the gunmen’s faces were covered with masks and that four shots were fired.
The case is under investigation and a motive was not immediately clear, but Basij units had been involved in violent clashes with demonstrators in the area in November in which many protesters were injured and killed. Amnesty International has reported that more than 300 people were killed in the unrest across the country, though some estimates are much higher and Iran has not announced an official death toll.
Mojaddami’s killing is another blow to the Revolutionary Guard following the death of top general Qassem Soleimani earlier this month in a US drone strike in Iraq.
— AP
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