Ten police killed in southeast Iran

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Ten police officers were killed in an armed attack in southeast Iran on Saturday, state media reported. A Baluchi group has claimed responsibility.

Two patrol units in Sistan and Baluchestan province were out responding to an emergency call. While they were returning to the station, they were “attacked by terrorist criminals” and “several police personnel and conscript soldiers from the Goharkouh police station in Taftan County were martyred,” the National Police Command’s information center stated. 

A total of 10 people from two patrol units were killed, state media IRNA reported. 

Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) claimed responsibility.

The interior minister has ordered an investigation.

Attacks on Iranian security forces in Sistan and Baluchestan province are frequent. Armed Baluchi groups, primarily Jaish al-Adl, operate in the province that borders Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have waged an insurgency against Tehran and carried out numerous attacks against its forces, especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Earlier this month, at least six people including an IRGC commander were killed in separate attacks.

Jaish al-Adl was re-added to the United States list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in 2019 by the administration of former President Donald Trump. The designation was in response to a deadly attack by the group that killed 27 IRGC members near Sistan and Baluchestan’s provincial capital, Zahedan.

Baluchis are a mainly Sunni ethnic minority in Iran, living predominantly in the Baluchestan region near the border with Pakistan. The population was active during nationwide protests in September 2022 and hundreds of Baluchis were killed by the IRGC during a heavy crackdown.