Iranian police said on Tuesday that one of their officers was killed in an attack by unidentified assailants in the country's restive southeast, state media reported. "Following an armed attack by unidentified individuals on a Criminal Investigation Police officer in Saravan county (Sistan-Baluchistan province), Third Lieutenant Hojat Vafakardeh attained the honor of martyrdom," state television quoted a police statement as saying. "Efforts by police and security forces to identify and arrest those responsible for this cowardly attack are ongoing," the statement added. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. Sistan-Baluchistan province, one of Iran's poorest, has long been the scene of clashes involving security forces and armed groups, including separatist factions. The province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan is home to a large Baluch population. On Monday, the Mehr news agency reported that "terrorist groups carried out a cowardly attack on a vehicle carrying several engineers and contractors" in the same area. Also on Monday, the local headquarters of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said its forces had ambushed "a terrorist team... before carrying out a terrorist operation", killing one of its members and arresting several others. On Thursday, the intelligence ministry said its forces had dismantled "four operational cells of a terrorist-takfiri group", arresting 16 people. Three others were detained for allegedly sending information to "US-Zionist centers", the ministry said, without providing further details. In mid-October, two members of Iran's security forces were killed in separate attacks by gunmen in the region.
