TEHRAN: At least five Iranian police officers were killed on Friday in an ambush near the town of Iranshahr in the restive Sistan-Baluchistan province, local media reported.
According to Fars news agency, unidentified assailants targeted two patrol units, leaving five officers dead. Iranian media released images showing a bullet-riddled police pickup with bodies lying nearby.
Security forces launched an operation to track down and identify the attackers. Hours later, the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) claimed responsibility for the assault on the Telegram messaging platform.
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Sistan-Baluchistan, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long witnessed clashes between Iranian forces and armed groups, including drug traffickers and separatists. The province, home to a large Sunni Baluch minority, remains one of the poorest and most unstable regions of Shiite-majority Iran.
The latest violence follows a series of recent attacks in the province. Last week, Iranian forces said they killed seven members of Ansar al-Furqan while foiling a planned operation, while a police officer was killed a day earlier in another ambush later claimed by Jaish al-Adl.
In April, eight Pakistanis were killed in Mehrestan County, highlighting the cross-border nature of militancy in the region spanning Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan and Pakistan’s Balochistan provinces.
