DUBAI, July 8 (Reuters) – Two police officers and four assailants were killed on Saturday after gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a police station in troubled southeastern Iran, state television reported.
The attack took place in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, the scene of some of the bloodiest protests during a wave of nationwide riots sparked last year by the death of a young Kurdish woman in police custody of the morality.
State TV declared that “the four terrorists” and two policemen had died in the act. A force spokesman said three attackers had been killed, various media reported.
Sistan-Baluchistan, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, is one of Iran’s poorest provinces and one of the main drug trafficking routes.
Human rights groups say the Baluch minority, estimated to number up to 2 million, has suffered discrimination and repression for decades.
Zahedan has been the scene of weekly protests since the massacre of protesters on September 30, 2022, even as unrest has subsided in most other areas of the country.
Amnesty International has stated that security forces killed at least 66 people in the crackdown on protesters.
Authorities blamed the start of the shooting on September 30 on the Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, a Baloch militant group they say operates from safe havens in Pakistan. Neither Jaish al-Adl nor any other group claimed responsibility for their involvement in the events. (Reporting by the Dubai newsroom. Edited in Spanish by Javier Leira)
Source: Ambito
