TEHRAN (AFP) – An Iranian Revolutionary Guards general and pilot were killed in a helicopter crash during an anti-terror operation in the country’s southeast, state media reported yesterday.
The “ultra-light gyroplane” of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “had an accident while conducting combat operations” in a border area, IRNA news agency said.
It said the crash happened in Sirkan, a city in Sistan-Baluchistan province, and identified the dead as General Hamid Mazandarani, the commander of the Nineveh Brigade of Golestan province, and Hamed Jandaghi, a pilot of the IRGC ground forces. Iran’s armed forces have killed several militants and arrested others during the operation, according to Iranian media outlets.
Helicopter accidents are a rare sight in Iran, but former president Ebrahim Raisi was killed when his helicopter crashed into a mountainside in May, triggering snap elections in the country.
