2005 Ahvaz unrest
2005 Ahvaz unrest or 15 April Ahvaz Protests were violent riots, initiated by Iranian Arabs in the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan. The unrest erupted on 15 April 2005, and lasted for 4 days. Initially, the Iranian Interior Ministry stated that only one person had been killed, however an official at a hospital in Ahvaz said that between 15 and 20 mortal casualties. Government officials blamed the unrest on Britain, whose troops based just across the border in southern Iraq. Following the unrest, several bombings were carried out in Ahvaz, killing 28 people. In 2006, Iran executed five Arab separatists, convicted of carrying out the bombings in 2005.
Battle of Nawzad
The town of Nawzad (also the capital of Nawzad district) is situated 65 kilometres north of Camp Bastion and Camp Leatherneck, the conjoined main ISAF bases in Helmand province. Surrounded to the southwest and east by mountains, the town consists of a bazaar, one road, and a maze of mud-brick houses and compounds, interspersed with narrow alleys. The local economy traditionally revolves around opium poppy farming. Like much of Afghanistan, Nawzad and the surrounding area were largely peaceful after the 2001 invasion. The United Nations, European Union, and other Western-funded agencies sent staff to Nawzad to build wells and health clinics.