TEHRAN: In Iran’s restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, militants killed one police officer, Iranian media reported on Sunday, adding that three attackers were also killed.
According to reports, the incident occurred in Saravan, where armed militants attempted to storm a police station.
The attackers were identified as members of Jaish al-Adl (“Army of Justice”), a Baloch militant group operating from the border regions between Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, with much of its activity concentrated inside Iran.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that security forces killed three militants and arrested two others during the exchange.
Sistan-Baluchistan, which shares a long border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, frequently witnesses clashes between Iranian security forces and insurgent groups or smugglers.
The province is home to a large Baloch Sunni Muslim community in Shiite-majority Iran.
On July 26, gunmen attacked a courthouse in Zahedan, the provincial capital, killing at least six people — an assault later claimed by Jaish al-Adl. In October, one of the deadliest incidents in recent years saw 10 police officers killed in the province.
Jaish al-Adl is a Sunni Baloch militant group formed in 2012 after the decline of Jundallah, another insurgent organization.
It has been involved in numerous attacks against Iranian security forces, especially in Sistan-Baluchistan.
The group claims to fight for greater rights for the Baloch Sunni minority but has been designated a terrorist organization by Iran.
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Its operations often target police stations, military outposts, and government officials, and it maintains cross-border networks extending into Pakistan and Afghanistan.
