Iranian policeman killed in clash in restive southeast

Gunmen in Iran’s volatile southeast killed a police officer in a shootout with security forces, news agencies report, with a jihadist group claiming the attack.

The clash occurred in Sistan-Baluchistan province, one of the country’s poorest regions and the scene of frequent violence between the security forces and Baluch minority rebels, Sunni extremist groups and drug traffickers.

“In an exchange of fire… between Iranshahr police and armed men, one officer was wounded and another killed,” the Fars news agency says, citing the police.

The ISNA news agency also reports the deadly gun battle.

Sistan-Baluchistan is home to a large ethnic Baluch population, most of whom are Sunni Muslims, in contrast to Iran’s Shiite majority.

Fars says the assailants were wounded in the firefight, fled the scene and are being pursued by police.

Later on social media, the Sunni jihadist group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) claimed responsibility for the attack. In recent years the group based across the border in Pakistan has claimed multiple attacks in the area.

On Sunday, the group carried out an attack in Sistan-Baluchistan that killed a police officer, according to local media. On July 26, at least six people were killed in an attack claimed by Jaish al-Adl on a courthouse in the same province.