“A policeman from Saravan was killed while terrorists were trying to enter the police station” in that area of Sistan-Balochistan, the Tasnim news agency said.

The attackers were members of the Sunni extremist group Jaish al-Adl (“Army of Justice” in Arabic) based in Pakistan and active in Iran’s southeast, the agency said.

“Three terrorists were killed and two were arrested,” Tasnim said.

Sistan-Balochistan, which shares a long border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, has been the site of frequent clashes between security forces and insurgents or smugglers.

The province hosts a significant population from the Baloch ethnic minority, which practises Sunni Islam in Shi’ite-majority Iran.

On July 26, gunmen stormed a courthouse in the province’s capital Zahedan, killing at least six people, in an attack that was later claimed by Jaish al-Adl.

In one of the deadliest attacks in the province, 10 police officers were killed in October.