Masked gunmen on Wednesday ambushed and assassinated a local commander of the Basij paramilitary security force in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province in front of his house.
The slain commander, Abdolhossein Mojaddami, was gunned down in front of his home in the town of Darkhoein.
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The Basij is a volunteer paramilitary wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used for internal security and other tasks, such as violent suppression of civilian protests.
Mojaddami, who headed the local Basij force in Darkhoein, was said to be an associate of the recently slain general, Qassem Soleimani.
According to Islamic Republic News Agency, the official news agency of Iran, two gunmen on a motorcycle, armed with an assault rifle and a hunting rifle, ambushed Mojaddami. Other Iranian media outlets said the gunmen's faces were covered with masks and that four shots were fired.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the assassination nor has a motive been established, Iranian media reports said, but Basij units had been involved in violent clashes with demonstrators in the area in November in which many protesters were wounded and killed.
Mojaddami's killing is seen as another blow to the IRGC, following the death of Soleimani earlier this month in a US drone strike in Iraq.
