An Iranian soldier was killed and two pro-government militiamen were wounded in a rebel attack on a border post with Pakistan in southeast Iran, state news agency IRNA reported today.
Commander Ramezan Sharif of the Revolutionary Guards, quoted by IRNA, said a soldier of the elite force was killed and two bassiji Islamist militia volunteers were wounded.
He identified the assailants as members of Jaish-ul Adl (Army of Justice), a Sunni extremist group, and said they suffered "heavy losses" in the attack in the Saravan region on yesterday.
The survivors fled into Pakistan, the officer said.
The same group captured five Iranian soldiers in February, four of whom were released in April. The fate of the other man remains unknown.
The border province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which has a large Sunni Muslim community in an otherwise predominantly Shiite country, is the scene of frequent attacks by Sunni extremists and is a major drug smuggling route.
