5 policemen killed in militant attack in southeastern Iran

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) – At least five Iranian policemen were killed after armed assailants opened fire on their vehicles in the southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province on Tuesday.

The attack took place on a highway near Sib and Soran County of the border province after a police patrol was attacked in the afternoon, state media reported.

Jaish al-Adl militant group reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, which left at least one other critically injured.

Alireza Marhamati, the deputy governor of Sistan and Baluchestan province, told state TV that a number of armed assailants attacked a police patrol, killing five police personnel.

He said the security agencies have launched a manhunt for the perpetrators of the attack.

Sistan and Baluchestan is a restive province with the presence of many militant groups, including Jaish al-Adl, which often carry out attacks on security forces.

Tuesday's attack came less than a week after 10 security personnel were killed in clashes with Jaish al-Adl militants in the same province, which also led to the killing of 18 militants.

The clashes followed three simultaneous attacks in the cities of Chabahar and Rask in the province bordering Pakistan.

Jaish Al-Adl is an Iranian militant group that is believed to have bases in the border region of Pakistan.

The attack came less than three months after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched a barrage of missiles at Pakistan’s Balochistan province in January, claiming to target the headquarters of the militant group.

Pakistan strongly condemned the strikes and retaliated with its missile strike on a village in the Iranian border province, which it claimed to target an anti-Pakistan militant group.

In December last year, 11 policemen were killed in the city of Rask following an attack on a police station that Iranian authorities blamed on Jaish al-Adl.