Iran's state media reported on Friday that three Basij militiamen were killed during protests in the religious city of Mashhad in eastern Iran on Thursday.

Mohsen Delavari, the governor of Mashhad, said that these Basij forces were killed in “knife attacks” by people who he called “rioters”.

The authorities of the Islamic Republic call the protesters “rioters”.

According to Delavari, several “thugs and rioters” were planning to close down stores with “threats and intimidation”, but when Basijis “intervened to disperse” them “the rioters killed two Basij members and injured three others with cold weapons.”

The governor of Mashhad identified the dead as Daniyal Rezazadeh and Hossein Zeinalzadeh. Iranian state TV later identified a third Basij militiaman killed in Mashhad as “Ebrahim Ghaffarian”.

Accusing the opponents of the Islamic Republic of attacking government’s repression forces comes in a situation when hundreds of protesters have lost their lives in two months of nationwide protests due to government violence, including gunshot wounds by the security forces, law enforcement, plainclothes and Basij militiamen.

On Thursday, state media also reported that a police colonel was killed in western city of Sanandaj, and his car was set on fire. On Wednesday, it was also reported that a commander of a special unit of the police force was killed in central city of Esfahan.