Militiaman killed in Iranian Kurdistan

A member of Iran's Basij militia has been killed by "counter-revolutionaries" in the Kurdistan province town of Marivan, the Fars news agency reported Thursday.

The country has been rocked by over two months of protests since the death in morality police custody on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurd.

Government officials have blamed the "riots" on "foreign enemies" in the West they accuse of inciting law-breaking.

"Ali Fatahi... was killed on Wednesday evening by mercenaries of the enemy and the counter-revolution, because he was a member of the Basij," Fars said, referring to the volunteer militia recruited under the auspices of the Revolutionary Guard.

Provincial security official Mohammad Rezaei described Fatahi as a "citizen of Marivan" and said he was "killed by a bullet to the back," Fars added.

Since the unrest erupted in mid-September, more than 30 security force personnel have been killed, most of them shot or stabbed to death, state media say.