A commander in one of the Basij’s female units was killed in an attack on Wednesday in Mehrestan, a border county in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state media reported. The woman was identified as Afsaneh Aqila.
Aqila, commander of the Afzal Sisters’ Basij unit in Mehrestan, was reportedly assassinated outside her home in front of her children. The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency alleged that the gunmen had links to Israel and the United States, but did not identify the group responsible or provide evidence to support the claim.
In a separate incident in the same province, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported that security officer Mohsen Shahriyari was killed while confronting a “terrorist group.”
Sardar Mohammadreza Eshaqi, the province’s police commander, issued a statement following the killings, describing Aqila as “a woman of faith, courage, and sacrifice.”
“I condemn this terrorist act and offer my condolences and congratulations on the martyrdom of these individuals to their comrades, the honorable people of Mehrestan, and the Basij community of Sistan and Baluchestan province,” Eshaqi said.
Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attend an IRGC ground forces military drill in the Aras area, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, October 17, 2022. (credit: IRGC/WANA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)Iranian People’s Fighters Front claims responsibility for six attacks
Attacks targeting members of the IRGC and other security forces in the province appear to have increased in recent weeks. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported earlier this week that at least 94 people were killed and 33 wounded in 63 armed incidents across southeastern Iran between March 31 and October 10.
The People’s Fighters Front has claimed responsibility for only six of the incidents documented by HRANA. Responsibility for the remaining incidents remains unknown.
Security expert Roger Macmillan told The Jerusalem Post that anti-regime attacks have increased since the Sunni group Jaysh al-Adl merged with the PFF. He said there had been significant anger toward the IRGC over its “systematic arrest and torture of their people, many of whom don’t even speak Farsi, and were forced into signing false documents, which have seen them convicted of alleged terrorist attacks, and then executed.”
In one of the most notable incidents last week, Tasnim reported that Lieutenant Colonel Nosrat Eftekhari, deputy for cultural and social affairs of the Law Enforcement Command in the province, was killed in what the agency described as a “terrorist attack.”
Earlier this week, Haalvsh, an independent human rights organization and news outlet that documents human rights violations and security incidents in Sistan and Baluchestan, also reported that more than 20 members of the Fatemiyoun terrorist group were killed or wounded in an hours-long clash on Tuesday. The Iran-backed Shia group is composed primarily of Afghan Hazara refugees and migrants and is funded and trained by the IRGC.
Iranian regime seeking to project strength, public support for Basij
The attacks come as the regime seeks to project an image of strength, cohesion, and public support for the Basij. The Islamic Republic has released numerous images from its Janfada (self-sacrifice) training exercises, prominently featuring women training with guns and drones. Janfada spokesperson Sasan Zare claimed that more than 500,000 women registered within 100 minutes of registration opening for the “National Resistance” battalions, filling the first 1,000 units.
Despite the alleged masses who have registered for the self-sacrifice training, the Iran Human Rights Monitor has reported the regime is using violent criminals to fill its ranks, offering conditional release to those willing to suppress protests and signs of dissent.
Basing its report on testimonies received from inmates, their families, informed sources within prisons, and field reports from human rights groups, criminals convicted of general, violent, or drug offenses were offered repentance forms in August and September and granted bail after they registered with the Basij.
Although reports of personnel shortages in the Basij and IRGC predate the recent attacks, Macmillan suggested that financial desperation could drive people to enlist despite the risk of assassination.