At least 11 Iranian law enforcement officials have been killed in an in a single day terrorist assault on a police station within the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, the state tv reported Friday.
Various assailants have been additionally killed in a shootout that ensued with the safety forces, the channel reported.
“In the terrorist attack on the police headquarters in the town of Rask, 11 policemen were killed, and others were wounded,” Alireza Marhamati, deputy governor of the province, advised state TV.
The assault, which occurred round midnight, was one of many deadliest in years for the area mendacity near Iran’s border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It was claimed by the Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) terrorist group, in a short assertion on its Telegram channel. Jaish al-Adl was shaped in 2012 and is blacklisted by Iran.
“The officers at the targeted police station defended themselves bravely and wounded and killed some of the assailants,” Marhamati was quoted as saying later by the official news company IRNA.
Seven law enforcement officials have been wounded, with some in essential situation, Zahedan prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi advised IRNA.
The Sistan-Baluchistan police commander was current on the scene of the assault, and the state of affairs is now beneath management, the news company mentioned, including that an investigation into the assault was opened.
The ISNA news company revealed footage of a helicopter looking for the attackers above mountains on the Iran-Pakistan border.
Spate of assaults
Deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi mentioned on tv that “one of the terrorists had been arrested” by the safety forces.
The attackers have been unable to flee to the opposite aspect of the border and the safety forces had secured the entire area, he added.
Unrest within the impoverished Sistan-Baluchistan province has concerned drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and non secular extremists.
Similar assaults have occurred beforehand, together with on July 23 when 4 policemen have been killed whereas on patrol.
That got here two weeks after two policemen and 4 assailants have been killed in a shootout within the province, claimed by Jaish al-Adl.
In May, 5 Iranian border guards died in clashes with an armed group in Saravan, southeast of Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchistan.
State media reported on the time that the assault was carried out by “a terrorist group that was seeking to infiltrate the country,” however its members “fled the scene after suffering injuries.”
In late May, IRNA quoted a police official, Qassem Rezaee, as saying “Taliban forces” had shot at an Iranian police station in Sistan-Baluchistan, a drought-parched area. The two nations have been arguing over water rights.
Source: www.dailysabah.com