An Iranian Revolutionary Guards general and a pilot were killed in a helicopter crash during an anti-terror operation in the country’s restive southeast, state media reported on Monday.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ “ultra-light gyroplane” encountered an accident while conducting combat operations in a border region, according to the IRNA news agency.
The crash occurred in Sirkan, a city in Sistan-Baluchistan province. The deceased were identified as General Hamid Mazandarani, commander of the Nineveh Brigade of Golestan province, and Hamed Jandaghi, a pilot with the IRGC ground forces.
Iranian armed forces have been carrying out operations in the area since October 26, following an attack that killed 10 police officers, claimed by Sunni Muslim militants. Iranian media reports indicate that several militants have been killed or captured during the ongoing operation.
Sistan-Baluchistan, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, is one of Iran’s poorest provinces and is predominantly inhabited by the Baluch minority, an ethnic group spread across Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, practicing Sunni Islam in contrast to Iran’s Shiite majority.
The region has seen repeated clashes between Iranian security forces and Baluch rebels, radical Sunni groups, and drug traffickers.
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Helicopter crashes are uncommon in Iran, but earlier in May, former president Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash, which led to snap elections. Raisi was accompanied by then-foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others, all of whom perished in the crash.
AFP
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