IRGC commander wounded in roadside bombing, state media says

Local officials blamed a terror group linked to Al Qaeda

The commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was wounded in a bombing. AFP

A roadside bombing in south-east Iran has wounded a commander of the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, a semi-official news agency reported on Tuesday.

The report by the Isna news agency did not provide further details on the attack except to say the commander’s vehicle had struck the roadside bomb, setting it off.

The agency quoted Fadahossein Maleki, a politician from the Sistan-Baluchistan province near the Pakistani border where the attack took place, as blaming a Sunni separatist group affiliated with Al Qaida, known as Jeish Al Adl, for allegedly being behind the attack.

There was no claim of responsibility for the bombing and Isna did not identify the wounded Revolutionary Guard commander.

Jeish Al Adl — or Army of Justice in English — has been behind several attacks in Iran in recent years. Iran says it operates from across the border in Pakistan.

The south-east Sistan-Baluchistan province has been the scene of occasional clashes between government forces and militants, as well as armed drug smugglers.

In 2019, a suicide car bomber claimed by Jeish Al Adl attacked a bus carrying members of the Revolutionary Guard force, killing 27 troops.