At least ten people were killed on Saturday in southeastern Iran in a “terrorist attack” in a tense area of Sistan-Baluchistan, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, local media reported.
“Ten people were killed in a terrorist attack on police cars in Taftan county,” local news agencies Mehr and Tasnim reported, without specifying the attackers' modus operandi.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place some 1,200 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran.
Sistan-Baluchistan is one of Iran's poorest regions. It is home to a large population of the Baluchi ethnic minority, who practice Sunni Islam in contrast to the country's predominant Shiite branch.
Recurrent clashes take place in this region between Iranian security forces on the one hand and Baluchi minority rebels, radical Sunni groups and drug traffickers on the other.
Already in early October, at least six people, including police officers, were killed in this area in two separate attacks.
The Sunni jihadist group Jaish al-Adl (“Army of Justice” in Arabic), based in Pakistan and active in southeastern Iran, had claimed responsibility for both attacks on the Telegram messaging service.
Formed in 2012, the group has claimed responsibility for several attacks in this area in recent months.
With AFP
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