At least ten Iranian border police officers were killed in the Gohar Kuh area of Sistan and Balochistan province, CBS News reported on Saturday evening.
The attack, which took place 1,200 kilometers southeast of Tehran, reportedly involved gunfire that targeted two police vehicles.
CBS noted that photos and videos shared by HalVash, a Baloch advocacy group, showed a bullet-riddled truck with the distinctive green stripe of Iranian police vehicles, along with images of deceased officers in the front seat, CBS News reported.
According to CBS, Iranian state media first described the attackers as “miscreants” and later confirmed the deaths of ten officers.
Eskandar Momeni, Iran’s interior minister, reportedly ordered an investigation into what Iranian Official State media IRNA described as the “martyrdom” of the officers.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, CBS reported, and authorities have not identified any suspects.
Tensions rise in Iran's Sistan-Balochistan amid insurgent attacks
Sistan and Balochistan province, a predominantly Sunni region, has experienced long-standing tensions with Iran’s Shiite government, CBS stated. The region, one of Iran’s least developed, faces recurring violence due to heroin trafficking and a low-level insurgency by Baloch nationalist groups.
Previous incidents in the region include insurgent attacks that have led to similar casualty numbers, CBS reported, such as a December assault that killed eleven people and an April attack involving gunmen with explosive vests that killed ten before security forces eliminated eighteen separatists.
CBS further noted that separately to the incident, the Taliban has announced an investigation into reports that Iranian security forces recently killed Afghan migrants in Sistan and Balochistan, an incident that could further strain Iran-Afghanistan relations.