Several killed in separatist gun attack on Iran police station, state TV says

Suspected members of a separatist group killed 11 people and injured several others in a nighttime attack on a police station in southeastern Iran, state TV said Friday.

The deputy governor of Sistan and Baluchistan province, Ali Reza Marhemati, said senior police officers and soldiers were killed and injured in the 2 a.m. attack in Rask town, about 1,400 kilometers (875 miles) southwest of Tehran.

He said police killed several of the attackers in a shootout.

State TV blamed the attack on Jaish al-Adl, a separatist group. In 2019, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on a bus that killed 27 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard force. 

In recent months, militants and small separatist groups in the predominantly Sunni region have attacked police stations as part of a low-level insurgency against the government.

Sistan and Baluchestan province is one of the least developed areas of Iran. It was the site of heavy crackdowns on rallies following nationwide protests over the death in police custody of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in Tehran who had been detained for allegedly improperly wearing an Islamic veil.