Rebels kill three agents of Iran paramilitary force

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Nov. 07 – Rebels in south-eastern Iran have killed three agents of the paramilitary Bassij force, affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, according to a report on Tuesday on a government-owned Persian-language website. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Nov. 07 – Rebels in south-eastern Iran have killed three agents of the paramilitary Bassij force, affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, according to a report on Tuesday on a government-owned Persian-language website.

The report said that the Bassij agents were killed on Sunday during clashes at a security checkpoint.

It described the individuals that took part in the shootout as “drug traffickers” and said that they were eventually arrested by police.

Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on the bogus charge of drug smuggling.

The Bassij are Islamist vigilantes loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In 2005, following hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s rise to the presidency, they were given powers to act as the country’s back-up police force.