‎In an armed clash in Zahedan, capital of southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, ‎operational deputy of Fath garrison and three other officers were killed. ‎

The Fars news agency quoted Salah Asgarpour, deputy governor in social affairs in ‎Sistan and Baluchistan in reporting that “armed rebels in the region” were responsible for ‎killing the Police General. This official also reported that three other officers were killed ‎in recent days in clashed with rebels. He did not disclose any information regarding the ‎names or titles of the fallen officers. ‎

In another reaction, Nekoui, Sistan and Baluchistan’s police chief and the head of Fath ‎garrison, announced in another report regarding armed clashes in Zahedan area, “In that ‎operation Brigadier General Mohammad Sar-Golzaie was martyred.” However, later ‎reports of the incident published by the country’s major media outlets censored the fallen ‎general’s title. ‎

Armed clashes have intensified in the Sistan and Baluchistan area in the past three years. ‎An armed Baluchi group by the name of Jundullah (Army of God), led by Abdolmalek ‎Rigi, has accepted responsibility for several such clashes. In addition to armed attacks, ‎the group also kidnaps victims, and in several occasions has beheaded its kidnapped ‎victims in front of the camera, similar to beheadings administered by Al Qaeda. ‎

Bomb explosions near buses carrying Revolutionary Guards officers and several armed ‎clashes in Sistan and Baluchistan roads are among the Rigi group’s armed clashes in the ‎province, which have left dozens dead. The Revolutionary Guards and police force have ‎responded to increasing attacks by establishing the two garrisons of Rasul Akram and ‎Fath, at times even employing heavy artillery to confront dissatisfied Baluchi fighters. ‎

The Sistan and Baluchistan province has two million and 742 thousand inhabitants, and ‎shares a 1100 kilometer border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. The majority of the ‎province’s population is Sunni and Baluchi, and poverty and unemployment far exceed ‎alarming levels. ‎

Increasing religious and ethnic discrimination and retaliatory measures by local officials ‎against various regional groups in recent months have pushed Sistan and Baluchistan to ‎the brinks of a religious war. ‎

Demolishment of a Sunni seminary school, widespread arrest of social activists and ‎several Sunni clerics, government attempts to take control over Sunni schools, execution ‎of social activist and Zahedani blogger Yaghoub Mehrnahad, issuance of a 5-year prison ‎verdict for his juvenile brother and Sistan and Baluchistan judiciary’s shift to increasing ‎death verdicts are among such measures. ‎