1 Killed, 5 Wounded in Attack on Basij Base in Southeast Iran

Members of the Basij force march during a military parade in Tehran November 25, 2011. (Reuters)
Members of the Basij force march during a military parade in Tehran November 25, 2011. (Reuters)
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1 Killed, 5 Wounded in Attack on Basij Base in Southeast Iran

Members of the Basij force march during a military parade in Tehran November 25, 2011. (Reuters)
Members of the Basij force march during a military parade in Tehran November 25, 2011. (Reuters)

One person was killed and five wounded in an attack on a Basij paramilitary base in the southeastern town of Nik Shahr, reported Iranian state television on Saturday.

“A (paramilitary) Basij base in Nik Shahr came under ... fire this morning and several from the Revolutionary Guards communications personnel who were wiring the base were hit,” Mohammad Hadi Marashi, provincial deputy governor for security affairs, told the state news agency IRNA.

Authorities did not provide details about the nature of the assault.

The semi-official news agency Tasnim said the Jaish al-Adl militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack happened during the morning flag raising at the base, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Nik Shahr is located in Sistan-Baluchestan province.

On Tuesday, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for two bombings last week that wounded three police officers in front of a police station in the city of Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchestan.

In December, a suicide car bomber struck a police headquarters in the port city of Chabahar, killing at least two police and wounding 42 others.

Iran began on Friday ten days of state-sponsored celebrations marking the 1979 Revolution which deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.



Landmine Victims Gather to Protest US Decision to Supply Ukraine

 Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Landmine Victims Gather to Protest US Decision to Supply Ukraine

 Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)

Landmine victims from across the world gathered at a conference in Cambodia on Tuesday to protest the United States' decision to give landmines to Ukraine, with Kyiv's delegation expected to report at the meet.

More than 100 protesters lined the walkway taken by delegates to the conference venue in Siem Reap where countries are reviewing progress on the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty.

"Look what antipersonnel landmines will do to your people," read one placard held by two landmine victims.

Alex Munyambabazi, who lost a leg to a landmine in northern Uganda in 2005, said he "condemned" the decision by the US to supply antipersonnel mines to Kyiv as it battles Russian forces.

"We are tired. We don't want to see any more victims like me, we don't want to see any more suffering," he told AFP.

"Every landmine planted is a child, a civilian, a woman, who is just waiting for their legs to be blown off, for his life to be taken.

"I am here to say we don't want any more victims. No excuses, no exceptions."

Washington's announcement last week that it would send anti-personnel landmines to Kyiv was immediately criticized by human rights campaigners.

Ukraine is a signature to the treaty. The United States and Russia are not.

Ukraine using the US mines would be in "blatant disregard for their obligations under the mine ban treaty," said Tamar Gabelnick, director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

"These weapons have no place in today´s warfare," she told AFP.

"[Ukraine's] people have suffered long enough from the horrors of these weapons."

A Ukrainian delegation was present at the conference on Tuesday, and it was expected to present its report on progress in clearing mines on its territory.