ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Eleven police officers were killed in an overnight attack by a Baluch militant group in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, state media reported on Friday.
The attack took place in the town of Rask and also left a number of injured.
Ensuing clashes lasted more than an hour, according to Tasnim news. An unidentified number of attackers were also killed and wounded, and Iranian security forces are in pursuit of others who fled.
A Baluch militant group Jaish al-Adl has claimed responsibility, according to Iranian media. The group says it is fighting for greater rights for Baluchis and has carried out numerous attacks on Iranian security forces.
Baluchis are a mainly Sunni ethnic minority in Iran, living predominantly in the impoverished Baluchestan region near the border with Pakistan. Many Baluchis took part in last year’s nationwide protests and the area was targeted in the violent crackdown by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which killed hundreds during demonstrations in Zahedan and Khash.
Last month, Iran executed three men convicted of being members of Jaish al-Adl and participating in suicide bombings of security forces.
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