4 IRGC security force personnel killed in attack by terrorists in Iran

TEHRAN: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's (IRGC) Southeast Quds Base said that four of its security defence forces were killed in southeastern Iran on Monday in an attack launched by the region's terrorist elements, reported the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). According to IRGC, the four officers were killed in an area bordering Pakistan in Saravan county in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan.

According to the IRGC statement, the responsible terrorist elements escaped from the region to Pakistan after the IRGC forces launched an operation to hunt them down, reported IRNA. The military force said that further information on the incident would be released later on Monday.

Nasser Kanaani, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic on Sunday condemned a terrorist blast in Kirkuk which killed several Iraqi citizens. Kanaani expressed his sympathy towards the Iraqi people and government after a number of Iraqi federal police forces were killed in the blast, reported IRNA. He also prayed for the recovery of those injured.

An armed attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine in the Iran city of Shiraz in October left 15 dead and 40 injured. The gun attack occured on worshipers in a Shia pilgrimage site in Shiraz city, leaving 40 people wounded, Al Arabiya reported citing local Iranian media.

ISIL (ISIS) took responsibility for the brutal attack in a statement on their telegram channel. The attackers targeted the Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz at around 5:45 p.m. (local time). Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi vowed to respond to the attack and stated that it would not go unanswered. "This crime will definitely not go unanswered, and the security and law enforcement forces will teach a lesson to those who designed and carried out the attack," Al Arabiya reported quoting Raisi as saying.

According to local media, the attack was initiated by three gunmen, out of which two have been caught and one is still on the run. However, the police chief as well as the chief justice of Fars province refuted any such claims and said there was only one attacker, adding that he was being interrogated.