Just one week after Iran Unfiltered documented the widening geography and growing intensity of armed violence in Sistan and Baluchestan, another series of deadly confrontations has erupted, this time concentrated around Zahedan and Rask.
On Thursday, a police officer was killed when gunmen attacked the Ahmadabad checkpoint in Rask. Around the same time, Iranian security forces fought a roughly four-hour battle against armed men inside a residential building in Manzelab, near Zahedan, eventually killing six people whom the Revolutionary Guards described as members of a “Takfiri terrorist team.” By Friday morning, another prolonged confrontation was underway near the villages of Bidadlad and Shushgim in Rask. Iranian media confirmed an operation against armed men in the area, while local Baloch sources reported heavy weapons, armored vehicles, drones and several hours of sustained fighting.
The latest confrontations are unfolding against an important change in the armed landscape of Sistan and Baluchestan: several of the province’s principal Baloch armed organizations are now operating under the People’s Fighters Front, an alliance formed in late 2025 that includes Jaish al-Adl, the Pada Baloch Movement, the Nasr Movement of Baluchestan and other armed factions. The coalition has already claimed involvement in several of the major confrontations documented by Iran Unfiltered, including the September battles in Saravan and, most recently, Thursday’s fighting in Manzelab near Zahedan.
This makes it increasingly difficult to view the recent violence simply as a collection of unrelated attacks by disparate armed groups. The formation of the coalition provides an organizational framework through which at least some of these operations are being conducted. At the same time, responsibility for several of the latest incidents - including the attack on the Ahmadabad checkpoint in Rask and a reported attack near Zahedan on Friday - has not yet been publicly claimed, making it premature to attribute every incident in the province to the coalition.
Thursday’s confrontation in Manzelab provides some of the clearest evidence of the intensity of the latest violence. According to the IRGC’s Quds regional headquarters, security forces identified a six-member armed cell that was preparing attacks in the province. A joint operation involving the IRGC and police ended with all six alleged members killed and explosive devices recovered.
Local accounts described a much larger security operation than the brief official announcement suggested. Haalvsh reported that dozens of security personnel surrounded a residential building beginning around 6:00 a.m., positioning forces on nearby rooftops while exchanging fire with the men inside for approximately four hours. Videos from the area showed extensive damage to the building. Local residents reported hearing sustained gunfire and explosions, including what they described as RPG and mortar fire.
The People’s Fighters Front subsequently said its members were involved in the Manzelab confrontation. This follows the coalition’s acknowledgment of involvement in the major September confrontations in Saravan and provides further evidence that the alliance is playing an active role in at least part of the recent escalation.
The location is again significant. Iran Unfiltered noted last week that armed confrontation had reached Zahedan itself, weakening the argument that the escalation could be understood primarily as cross-border militancy around Saravan and the Pakistani frontier. The Manzelab battle now provides another example of prolonged armed confrontation in and around the provincial capital.
Rask has simultaneously emerged as another center of violence. On Thursday, gunmen attacked the Ahmadabad checkpoint, killing police officer Alireza Sanchouli. Provincial authorities said the attackers fired from the direction of a nearby river and withdrew after security forces returned fire. No organization immediately claimed responsibility.
Less than a day later, security forces launched another operation near Bidadlad and Shushgim in Rask County. Iranian media confirmed that security forces were engaged with armed men in the area but initially provided few details about their identities or casualties. Haalvsh reported that the fighting began around 5:30 a.m. Friday and continued for more than six hours.
The outlet also reported the deployment of armored vehicles, reinforcements, heavy weapons, surveillance quadcopters and explosive drones. Those details have not been independently confirmed. Reports of casualties among IRGC personnel have likewise circulated locally but had not been officially confirmed at the time of writing.
Among the unconfirmed reports that should be treated with caution, Haalvsh reported Friday that at least five members of the Fatemiyoun, an Afghan Shiite militia closely associated with the IRGC’s Quds Force, were killed when their vehicle was struck by an explosive device and then came under gunfire in the Rudmahi area near Zahedan. Iranian authorities have not confirmed that Fatemiyoun members were involved, though the IRGC acknowledged a roadside bombing in Sistan and Baluchestan that killed one of its personnel, without identifying the location or the deceased as connected to Fatemiyoun. It remains unclear whether the two accounts describe the same incident.
There have also been recent local reports and videos purporting to show armed Fatemiyoun personnel operating around Rudmahi and elsewhere in the province. Haalvsh reported another attack in the same area in September that it said killed four members of the group. These reports have not been independently verified, and there is not yet sufficient evidence to determine the scale or purpose of any Fatemiyoun presence in Sistan and Baluchestan.
The reports are nevertheless worth watching. Fatemiyoun is composed largely of Afghan Shiites and has historically recruited heavily among Afghanistan’s Hazara community. Its confirmed deployment in a predominantly Sunni Baloch province could introduce an additional ethnic and sectarian dimension into an already sensitive conflict. That does not mean sectarian confrontation is inevitable, or that the current violence is primarily sectarian. But using an externally recruited Shiite force in security operations in Sistan and Baluchestan could deepen local perceptions of alienation and create new tensions if the reports of its presence are substantiated.
Taken together, the latest events strengthen the picture that emerged in Iran Unfiltered’s previous reports: the escalation is becoming more sustained, more geographically dispersed and increasingly organized. The People’s Fighters Front has provided a common organizational structure for several previously separate Baloch armed organizations and has acknowledged involvement in repeated major confrontations with Iranian security forces. At the same time, not every attack has been claimed, and the extent to which the coalition is directing or coordinating the wider pattern of violence remains uncertain.
The September battles in Saravan demonstrated that armed organizations could sustain hours-long confrontations while inflicting losses on local IRGC commanders. The events since then add another dimension: repeated fighting around Zahedan and the emergence of Rask as another center of sustained violence.
The firmer conclusion is that the security situation has continued to deteriorate since Iran Unfiltered’s last report. Within roughly a week, senior IRGC officers have been killed in Saravan, police have come under attack in Rask, members of the People’s Fighters Front have fought another prolonged battle near Zahedan, and another major security operation has unfolded in Rask.
The formation of a broader Baloch armed coalition makes the current phase different from one in which authorities faced only fragmented militant organizations carrying out isolated attacks. But the extent of coordination across the latest incidents remains unclear, as does the significance of reports that Fatemiyoun personnel are now operating in the province. What is increasingly clear is that armed confrontation is becoming a recurring feature across several parts of Sistan and Baluchestan rather than an occasional flare-up confined to Iran’s borderlands.