国际英语新闻：5 hostages rescued, 1 killed in southeast Iran

TEHRAN, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The deputy governor of the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-Balouchestan said Saturday that Iranian forces have rescued five of six people taken hostage by militants.

But the sixth one was killed.

The deputy governor for the security affairs, Jalal Sayyah, told the official news agency IRNA that the forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) rescued the above five people in a successful operation.

The six people were held hostage after they were ambushed in the province on Thursday.

During the IRGC operation, three of the militants were killed, Sayyah said, adding that the head of that group is seemingly among the dead.

Sistan-Baluchestan province is home to the Jundallah insurgency, which is a Sunni group that has claimed responsibility for explosions that have killed dozens in recent years, including several senior commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard last year.

Iran hung the group's leader Abdolmalek Rigi in Tehran's Evin prison On June 20 after he was convicted of committing various crimes including armed robbery, bombing operations in public places, armed attacks on the army, police and ordinary civilians, assassination attempts, disrupting regional stability, kidnapping and murder.

The Jundallah group was founded by and had been under the command of Rigi who has claimed to fight for the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran. Iran said the group was behind numerous acts of terror, bombing and kidnapping. Enditem