TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Four militants attacked a police station in southeastern Iran and killed two security forces, state TV reported Saturday.
The assault took place in Zahedan, a city in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Pakistan. It triggered a shootout that left two security forces were killed, the report said.
Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said in a statement that the four militants were killed.
The report quoted Alireza Marhamati, the province’s deputy governor, as saying the militants were trying to gain access to the police station and were equipped with grenades, but did not elaborate.
The state-run IRNA news agency on its Telegram channel said a Sunni separatist group affiliated with al-Qaida and known as Jeish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, claimed responsibility for the attack.
IRNA also reported that authorities Saturday hanged two men involved in the October 26 deadly attack on Shah Cheragh mosque in the city of Shiraz, the second holiest site in Iran.
The report said the two were members of the extremist Islamic State group and were behind the deadly attack that killed at least 13 and wounded 30 people.
The semi-official ISNA and Tasnim news agencies said the two were publicly executed in the city of Shiraz.
The gunman who executed the attack, identified as Sobhan Komrouni, died in a hospital in southern Iran, days after the Oct. 26 attack, from injuries sustained during his arrest.
State TV at the time blamed the attack on “takfiris,” a term that refers to Sunni Muslim extremists who have targeted the country’s Shiite majority in the past.
The attack came as protesters elsewhere in Iran marked 40 days since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody ignited the biggest anti-government movement in over a decade. It appeared to be unrelated to the demonstrations.
