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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran policeman killed amid unrest in southeast |
| 2021-02-26 |
| [AlAhram] Sistan-Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... has a large ethnic Baluch population, that straddles the border and mainly follows the Sunni branch of Islam, not the Shia branch followed by most Iranians An officer has been killed in an attack on a cop shoppe in southeastern Iran, state media reported Thursday, as unrest in Sistan-Balochistan province spread to placid provincial capital Zahedan. The violence began earlier this week when a clash involving fuel smugglers at the Pak border triggered attacks on government buildings in the nearby city of Saravan, 270 kilometres (170 miles) southeast of Zahedan, in which at least one person was fatally maimed. Sistan-Balochistan has a large ethnic Baluch population, that straddles the border and mainly follows the Sunni branch of Islam, not the Shia branch followed by most Iranians. The province has long been a flashpoint for cross-border attacks by separatists and Sunni holy warriors. Zahedan county governor Abouzarmahdi Nakahei said the latest violence was fuelled by "fake" reports of deaths in the unrest in Saravan. "Following the propaganda and rumours by foreign media, criminal elements attacked Kurin cop shoppe in Zahedan with light weapons and grenade launchers," Nakahei told state news agency IRNA, without saying when the attack took place. He said the assailants had acted on the "excuse of showing solidarity for the fake deaths at Saravan's Shamsar cop shoppe." Police returned fire and the attackers eventually fled, but one officer was killed in the firefight, Nakahei said. Provincial deputy governor Mohammad-Hadi Marashi said several people had been maimed, one of them fatally, when officers at the Shamsar cop shoppe opened fire on a crowd on Monday. He said the crowd had attacked the cop shoppe after an incident at the border in which Pak soldiers opened fire on fuel smugglers attempting to cross into Iran, killing one person and wounding four. On Tuesday, angry protesters attacked the county governor's office in Saravan, damaging property before being dispersed, Marashi said. Provincial police chief Ahmad Taheri told the Tasnim news agency that hundreds had taken part in the Tuesday attack but the situation was now "under control" |
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