Gunmen kill policeman in southeast Iran: State media

Gunmen in southeastern Iran shot dead a senior police officer on Friday, state media reported, in an attack later claimed by a Pakistan-based extremist group.

The official IRNA news agency said the attack took place in the Sistan-Baluchistan region bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“The head of the police criminal investigation department in Khash county was assassinated by gunmen outside his house,” IRNA reported.

The Pakistan-based Sunni Muslim rebel group Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, claimed the attack on its Telegram channel.

Tehran calls the organization a “terrorist” group.

Sistan-Baluchistan is one of Iran’s poorest provinces, and for years has faced unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and Sunni Muslim extremists.

Sistan-Baluchistan is one of the few mainly Sunni provinces in Shia-dominated Iran.