Three suspected militants and a police officer were killed in an armed clash in the southeastern Iranian city of Saravan, police in Sistan and Baluchestan province said on Sunday, in the latest violence to hit the restive region.
One other police officer was wounded and taken to hospital, the provincial police information center said in a statement carried by state media.
It said security patrols in Saravan came under armed attack by the assailants, identified as members of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl, who were attempting to enter a local police station.
Security forces killed three attackers and were pursuing others who fled, the statement said.
The police commander of the province said that four people were arrested, and two vehicles along with a quantity of weapons and ammunition were seized following the clash with police in Saravan.
Local rights outlet Haalvsh had earlier reported heavy gunfire in Saravan, saying several people were injured, including a passerby.
The clash comes less than two weeks after a deadly assault on a courthouse in the provincial capital, Zahedan, that killed nine people -- including three attackers -- and wounded 20.
Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for that attack, which involved gunmen storming the judiciary building, firing on court offices and civilians, and an explosion inside the compound.
Sistan and Baluchestan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been the scene of sporadic violence involving Sunni militant groups, drug smugglers, and security forces. Jaish al-Adl, designated as a terrorist organization by Iran and the United States, says it is fighting for greater rights for Iran’s Baluch minority but is accused by Tehran of links to cross-border militant networks.
Iran has stepped up executions in the province in recent months, with rights groups warning that the surge in hangings of Baluch prisoners risks fueling further unrest.
