An attack on a court in southwest Iran left at least nine people killed and another 20 wounds after a group of gunmen invaded the scene on Saturday morning (Brasília), Iranian state TV said. Local authorities already classify the episode as a terrorist act.
The men had weapons and grenades. The TV report said that the security forces killed three of the attackers in the armed confrontation in the unstable province of Sistan-Saver, in the south of the country. The identity of the victims was not disclosed.
State TV reported that the attack occurred in the provincial capital, Zahedan. Police and security forces quickly took control of the scene, 1,130 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tehran.
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A report by the Semioficial Tasnim News Agency, considered close to security forces, attributed the attack on the Jaish Al-ADL militant group, which seeks independence to the Iranian provinces of East Sistan and the southwestern Baluche provinces of Pakistan.
The province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been the scene of occasional deadly confrontations involving militant groups, armed drug traffickers and Iranian safety forces. In October, an attack on an Iranian police train in the province killed at least 10 police officers.
The province of Baluchistan Sistan is one of Iran’s least developed regions. Relations between the Sunni Muslim residents of the region and Iran’s Shiite Theocracy have been tense for a long time.
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Iran suffered a big setback last month after a brief war with Israel and fulminating participation in the United States, with bombing on its nuclear facilities.
