An Iranian Revolutionary Guards general and a pilot were killed in a helicopter crash during an anti-terror operation in the southeast region, an AFP report said.
According to Iran's news agency IRNA, the "ultra-light gyroplane" of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps met with “an accident while conducting combat operations” in a border area.
The crash happened in Sirkan city in the Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Sistan-Baluchistan, home to a large number of the Baluch minority, is one of the most impoverished provinces in the Islamic republic.
The deceased has been identified as General Hamid Mazandarani, the commander of the Nineveh Brigade of Golestan province, and Hamed Jandaghi, a pilot of the IRGC ground forces.
The Iranian armed forces have been mounting an anti-terror operation in the region since last month when 10 police officers were killed in an attack claimed by Sunni Muslim militants.
The Sistan-Baluchistan province has seen sporadic clashes between Iranian security forces and rebels from the Baluch minority, radical Sunni groups and drug traffickers.
Though helicopter accidents are a rare sight in Iran, former president Ebrahim Raisi was killed when his helicopter crashed into a mountainside in May, triggering snap elections in the country.