At least five people were killed and 13 others wounded in a deadly terrorist attack on a courthouse in Iran’s southeastern city of Zahedan on Saturday, as armed members of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl stormed the judicial complex. The courthouse attack in Zahedan marks one of the most severe acts of violence in the troubled Sistan-Baluchestan province in recent months.
According to Iranian media and rights groups, the assault was a coordinated operation carried out by multiple attackers who entered the building during working hours and opened fire inside the judges’ chambers. The semi-official Fars and Mehr News Agencies reported that the militants also used explosives, with gunfire and blasts heard around the area. Some reports suggest the involvement of a suicide bomber.
The Iranian Baluch rights organization HAALVSH, citing eyewitness accounts, confirmed that judiciary personnel and court employees were among the dead and injured. The gunmen reportedly took advantage of gaps in courthouse security to breach the facility and cause maximum damage before being repelled by Iranian security forces.
Jaish al-Adl, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization that claims to fight for the rights of Iran’s Sunni Baluch minority, took responsibility for the attack via a statement released shortly after the incident. The group has a long history of launching cross-border attacks from bases near Pakistan’s Balochistan region and is known for targeting military and judicial institutions within Iran.
The province of Sistan-Baluchestan, which borders both Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been a hotspot of insurgency and unrest. Home to the Sunni Baluch minority, the region has witnessed ongoing clashes between security forces and separatist or extremist groups who accuse Tehran of systemic discrimination and political exclusion.
As emergency responders rushed the injured to nearby hospitals, the Iranian government vowed a swift response. Authorities have launched a full-scale investigation into the attack, and additional troops have reportedly been deployed to the region to prevent further escalation.
In a related development, violence was also reported in Iran’s northwest, where an outpost belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the village of Oghlan, near Sardasht in West Azerbaijan province, came under fire. One officer was killed and another wounded in what officials suspect to be an attack by Kurdish separatist militants.
Colonel Shakir, a spokesperson for the IRGC’s West Azerbaijan command, said the attackers fired indiscriminately at the military base, although full details of the incident are yet to be disclosed. Security forces have begun a sweep of the region and have not ruled out a link to ongoing Kurdish militancy.
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The dual attacks — one in the Baluch-majority southeast and the other in the Kurdish-dominated northwest — have intensified fears of coordinated unrest across Iran’s border provinces. Observers note that growing dissatisfaction among ethnic minorities, coupled with economic hardship and perceived political marginalization, may be fueling renewed waves of violence.
As Iran grapples with increasing security challenges on multiple fronts, authorities have reiterated their commitment to stability and have urged the international community to condemn the attack in Zahedan.
