Iran’s state media say militants shot and killed 4 freeway policemen Sunday within the nation’s southeast
TEHRAN, Iran — Militants shot and killed 4 freeway policemen Sunday in southeast Iran, state media reported.
State TV stated the officers had been on a routine mission on a highway linking Khash and Taftan cities some 1200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran, in restive Sistan and Baluchistan province, after they had been “attacked by terrorists,” a reference to separatist teams.
The province has witnessed a number of clashes between Iranian safety forces and drug smugglers in addition to a Sunni separatist group affiliated with the extremist group al-Qaida, referred to as Jeish al-Adl, or Military of Justice.
Sistan and Baluchistan province is a widely known route for drug and human trafficking from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Europe and Arab nations within the Persian Gulf and elsewhere.