iran
During an anti-terror operation, a helicopter crashed, killing a general and pilot from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, according to state media.
The “ultra-light gyroplane” of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “had an accident while conducting combat operations” in a border area, the IRNA news agency said.
It said the crash happened in Sirkan, a city in Sistan-Baluchistan province, and identified the dead as General Hamid Mazandarani, the commander of the Nineveh Brigade of Golestan province, and Hamed Jandaghi, a pilot of the IRGC ground forces.
READ ALSO: 225 Illegal Miners Arrested By South African Authorities
Iran’s armed forces have been mounting an operation in the region since October 26, when 10 police officers were killed in an attack claimed by Sunni Muslim militants.
They have killed several militants and arrested others during the operation, according to Iranian media outlets.
Sistan-Baluchistan borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and is one of the most impoverished provinces in the Islamic republic.
It is home to a large number of the Baluch minority, an ethnic group spread between Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who practice Sunni Islam in contrast to the country’s predominantly Shiite population.
The province has experienced recurring clashes between Iranian security forces and rebels from the Baluch minority, radical Sunni groups, and drug traffickers.
Helicopter accidents are a rare sight in Iran, but former president Ebrahim Raisi was killed when his helicopter crashed into a mountainside in May, triggering snap elections in the country.
The ultra-conservative president was accompanied by then-foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six other people who were all killed.
AFP
Governor of Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti has sworn-in the newly elected Mayors and Deputy…
President Bola Tinubu on Monday directed the immediate release of all minors who were arrested…
Rivers State Police have rescued Lucky Sunday, a 6-month-old child who was abducted from his…
Olusola Adetayo, a commercial motorcyclist, was found dead near his home in Ogun State after…
Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, has announced that he is leaving Nigeria "temporarily" in…
The newly elected chairs of the 13 LGAs in Nasarawa have been urged by Governor…