TEHRAN: A member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards was shot dead outside his house in Tehran, state media reported Wednesday, adding that he may have been killed during a burglary.

Qassam Fathollahi of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was shot “four times in front of his house” in southern Tehran late Tuesday by “unknown persons”, the official IRNA news agency said.

Police had noted “signs of theft from the apartments around the scene” of the shooting, the report added.

Iran has been rocked by protests since the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, 22, an Iranian Kurdish woman who was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s female dress code.

Iranian officials describe the protests as “riots” and say hundreds of people have been killed in the nationwide unrest, including members of the security forces, and thousands arrested.

On Saturday, a member of the Basij, the IRGC’s paramilitary force, was shot dead by “armed criminals” in the central city of Semirom where protesters had gathered, state media reported.

Tehran has accused hostile foreign powers and opposition groups of stoking the unrest.

Last month, Tehran executed two men, both 23, who had been convicted of attacks against security forces in connection with the protests.

The judiciary has issued 11 other death sentences, four of which have been upheld by the Supreme Court following appeals.