Iranian Forces Raid Baluch Village, One Woman Killed

Iranian security forces opened fire during a pre-dawn raid on the village of Gonich in Khash County, Sistan-Baluchestan, on 1 July, killing Khan Bibi Bamri and wounding at least 11 other Baluch women, according to local rights groups Hal-Vash and the Baluch Activists Campaign. Video from the scene shows armoured vehicles and spent live-ammunition cartridges strewn across residential streets. Witnesses quoted by human-rights outlets said troops from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and regular police surrounded the village at around 5 a.m. and began house-to-house searches. Residents reported no armed resistance and said those hit were unarmed civilians, including several teenage girls. Official Iranian media have not commented on the incident. The raid comes at the tail end of a two-week security sweep in southern Sistan-Baluchestan in which authorities claim to have arrested more than 50 suspected militants, killed two others and confiscated U.S.-made weapons. Advocacy groups say violence against the Sunni Baluch minority has intensified this year and have called for an independent investigation into the Gonich operation.