Four Terrorist Killed in Attack on Iranian Police Station

Four terrorists were killed during an attack on a police station in the Sunni-majority city of Zahedan in southeast Iran, according to the official Iranian television. 

The attack was carried out by armed militants and suicide bombers who targeted the police station. Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan province, has been the scene of some of the most violent protests during last year's wave of unrest, triggered by the killing of a Kurdish girl in police custody.

A militant group operating in the region called the "Army of Justice" claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack on social media, saying it was in response to the killing of protesters by security forces on September 30, 2022. 

The group added that the police station targeted was one of the perpetrators of the devastating Friday massacre in Zahedan.

The official television stated that the four terrorists were killed in the raid. Amnesty International said that security forces killed at least 66 people in the crackdown on protesters on September 30.

Following the incident, the commander of Zahedan police and the chief of a police station were dismissed, and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a delegation to negotiate with Sunni Baloch clerics who criticized the government.

There was a general outburst of anger in Zahedan before the September 30 crackdown, after social media circulated allegations of a police officer raping a teenage girl.

Molavi Abdul Hamid, Iran's leading Sunni cleric and a longtime critic of Shia leaders in Iran, condemned the attack on the police station and urged Balochistan residents to avoid actions that could lead to the collapse of security.

Sistan and Baluchestan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, is one of Iran's poorest provinces and a major transit route for drug smuggling. Human rights groups say that the Baloch minority, estimated at around 2 million people, has faced discrimination and repression for decades.