Attack claimed by jihadists kills policeman in southeast Iran

By AFP 10 January 2024, 9:42 am

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An attack, which was later claimed by a Sunni Muslim extremist group, killed a policeman in restive southeastern Iran, state media reports.

Sistan-Baluchistan province, where the attack took place, is one of the few mainly Sunni provinces in Shiite-dominated Iran and has seen persistent unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs and rebels from the Baluchi ethnic minority as well as jihadists.

“In an exchange of fire this morning between forces from a police station in Rask and members of an armed group, one of the policemen was killed,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency reports.

The news agency says the firefight lasted around three hours before the arrival of police reinforcements prompted the assailants to withdraw.

The attack was claimed by jihadist group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) in a brief statement on its Telegram channel. Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 and is blacklisted by Iran as a terrorist group.