Basij Militia Attacked, Killed In Tabriz

The IRGC says one of its Basij militia members was attacked and killed in the northwestern city of Tabriz.

In a statement on Sunday, the IRGC, or Revolutionary Guards Corps, identified him as a member of the Razavioun neighborhood patrol, named Amir Hosseinpour, claiming he was attacked by an assailant during a patrol mission and died four days later.

The statement does not mention any further details about the incident, the arrest of the attacker and his possible motives.

The Razavioun neighborhood patrol is a joint initiative involving the Law Enforcement Force and the Basij militia. The regime claims it has been launched to provide security, but many believe that its main goal is to suppress and arrest protesters.

In this initiative, the religious city of Qom served as a testing ground in 2018. At that time Colonel Mohammad-Reza Movahed, deputy commander of the Qom Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, claimed the Razavioun patrol fights "theft, narcotics and hooliganism."

However, critics believe that the purpose of creating such parallel activities is the widespread presence of regime forces in the neighborhoods.

Several military and paramilitary forces have been killed in Iranian cities amidst the uprising in recent months.

After the protests following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini and the deadly and violent suppression of protesters, attacks on military and law enforcement forces, as well as clerics have increased significantly.