Iran says 4 policemen shot dead in ‘terror attack’

Four Iranian policemen were killed on Sunday after attackers fired on a patrol in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Balochistan, near the border with Pakistan, state media reported.

“Three policemen were martyred in a terrorist attack on a police patrol unit,” state news agency IRNA said.

A fourth died later from his wounds, state television reported.

Unrest in the Sistan-Balochistan province has involved drug smuggling gangs, rebels from the Balochi minority and extremist groups.

A spokesperson for Babar Yousafzai, Balochistan’s chief minister, said: “We strictly oppose terrorism on both sides of the border.”

He said: “During a recent visit to Tehran, our Chief of Army Staff Gen. Syed Asim Munir asked his Iranian counterpart for a joint strategy to eliminate terrorism from both sides of the border.”

The spokesperson said that Pakistani security forces “have also witnessed such attacks in the past in which our soldiers were killed because terrorists have neither any border or country nor do they belong to any religion; they are just terrorists.”

Authorities in Pakistan and Balochistan “are very strict on border security. We have a clear stance that there should be trade through the Pakistan-Iran border and people can travel through the border,” he added.

Pakistan has already fenced its border with Iran, the spokesperson said.

“We don’t let anyone cross through the border areas.

“Our security forces are deployed there watching every movement for 24 hours. We have been utilizing all efforts to secure our border.”

On July 8, AFP reported that two policemen and four assailants were killed in a grenade and gunbattle in the province during an attack later claimed by the extremist Jaish Al-Adl group.