Gunmen kill 11 victims, including police officers, injure others during attack on Iranian police station

An attack-turned-shootout on a police station on Friday left 11 people dead and eight others wounded in southeastern Iran, state TV reported.

Senior police officers and soldiers were among those killed and wounded in the 2 a.m. attack in Rask town, about 875 miles southwest of Tehran, according to  Ali Reza Marhemati, the deputy governor of Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The deputy governor said police were able to kill several of the attackers in the shootout.

State TV blamed the attack on Jaish al-Adl, a separatist militant group that typically conduct hit-and-run operations from their hideouts in neighboring Pakistan. In 2019, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on a bus that killed 27 members of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

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Iranian police special forces are participating in the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) military rally in Tehran, Iran, on November 24, 2023. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Jaish al-Adl did not immediately claim the new attack.

Majid Mirahmadi, a deputy interior minister, said two gunmen had been killed in the attack and one was arrested. Eight police officers were left wounded, he said.

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Mirahmadi said the attack’s coordination included the gunmen ambushing responding officers to prevent them from assisting in the initial shootout.

Iranian morality policemen stand guard while monitoring an area in Tehran. Thousands of Iranians protest the death of Mahsa Amini, Also known as Zhina Amini, an Iranian-Kurd woman who was detained by Iranian Morality police for her dress code.   (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

A search remains underway in the area to find the gunmen responsible, state media reported.

Videos shared by the advocacy group HalVash, which reports on issues affecting the Baluch people, showed helicopters flying over the area in daylight.

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The attack is the latest in a string of attacks by militants and small separatist groups against police stations in recent months as part of a low-level insurgency against the government.

This is a locator map for Iran with its capital, Tehran.  (AP Photo)

Sistan and Baluchestan province is one of the least developed areas of Iran.

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Baluch people in the province have long complained about being treated as second-class citizens by Iran’s Shiite rulers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.