<p>Two police officers and four attackers were killed on Saturday when gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a police station in the mostly Sunni city of Zahedan in Iran's restive southeast, state television reported.</p>.<p>Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, was scene of some of the bloodiest protests during a wave of nationwide unrest last year triggered by the death of a young Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police.</p>.<p>A militant group operating in the area called Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack in a social media post, saying it was in retaliation for the deaths of protesters killed by security forces on Sept. 30, 2022.</p>.<p>It said the police station targeted was "one of the main perpetrators of the Bloody Friday calamity in Zahedan".</p>.<p>State television said "all four terrorists" had died in the raid.</p>.<p>Amnesty International said security forces killed at least 66 people in the September 30 crackdown on demonstrators.</p>.<p>Authorities sacked Zahedan's police commander and a police station chief afterwards, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a delegation to negotiate with critical Sunni Baluch clerics.</p>.<p>Public anger grew in Zahedan in the lead up to the Sept. 30 crackdown following allegations circulated on social media about the rape of a local teenage girl by a police officer.</p>.<p>Molavi Abdolhamid, Iran's most prominent Sunni cleric and a long-time critic of Iran's Shi'ite leaders, condemned the attack on the police station, urging Baluchistan residents to avoid actions that would lead to a breakdown in security.</p>.<p>Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, is one of Iran's poorest provinces and a major drug trafficking route.</p>.<p>Human rights groups say the Baluch minority, estimated to number up to 2 million people, has faced discrimination and repression for decades.</p>
<p>Two police officers and four attackers were killed on Saturday when gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a police station in the mostly Sunni city of Zahedan in Iran's restive southeast, state television reported.</p>.<p>Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, was scene of some of the bloodiest protests during a wave of nationwide unrest last year triggered by the death of a young Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police.</p>.<p>A militant group operating in the area called Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack in a social media post, saying it was in retaliation for the deaths of protesters killed by security forces on Sept. 30, 2022.</p>.<p>It said the police station targeted was "one of the main perpetrators of the Bloody Friday calamity in Zahedan".</p>.<p>State television said "all four terrorists" had died in the raid.</p>.<p>Amnesty International said security forces killed at least 66 people in the September 30 crackdown on demonstrators.</p>.<p>Authorities sacked Zahedan's police commander and a police station chief afterwards, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a delegation to negotiate with critical Sunni Baluch clerics.</p>.<p>Public anger grew in Zahedan in the lead up to the Sept. 30 crackdown following allegations circulated on social media about the rape of a local teenage girl by a police officer.</p>.<p>Molavi Abdolhamid, Iran's most prominent Sunni cleric and a long-time critic of Iran's Shi'ite leaders, condemned the attack on the police station, urging Baluchistan residents to avoid actions that would lead to a breakdown in security.</p>.<p>Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, is one of Iran's poorest provinces and a major drug trafficking route.</p>.<p>Human rights groups say the Baluch minority, estimated to number up to 2 million people, has faced discrimination and repression for decades.</p>