TEHRAN, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday that its ground forces earlier in the day killed 5 members of a "kidnapping" group in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
One IRGC member died in the operation in the Kurin district of Zahedan county, the IRGC said in a statement on its official news outlet Sepah News.
It added that the group abducted an engineer working on a development project west of Zahedan on Monday "in collusion with terrorist groups," and tried to transfer the hostage to a neighboring country.
The hostage was rescued in the operation, the statement said.
Sistan and Baluchestan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has seen repeated clashes involving Iranian security forces, militants and drug traffickers.
On Oct. 9, a roadside bomb in the province killed a senior police official, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The attack came a day after armed attacks in the province killed two Iranian security personnel and wounded three others, Tasnim reported. ■
