Militants and minor separatist factions have recently targeted police stations to wage an insurgency. In contrast to the predominantly Shia Muslim majority of Iran, the province is predominantly Sunni Muslim.
Iranian state television reports that eleven individuals were killed in a nighttime assault on a police station allegedly carried out by individuals affiliated with a separatist organization.
Additional casualties included senior police officers and soldiers, according to Ali Reza Marhemati, the deputy governor of the province of Sistan and Baluchistan.
Some of the assailants, according to him, were killed by the police.
Rask, a southeast Iranian village 1,400 kilometres (875 miles) from Tehran, was the scene around 2:00 a.m.
Iranian television attributed the assault to the Jaish al Adl separatist organization.
Small separatist organizations and militants have attacked police stations in recent months as part of an insurgency.
Jaish al Adl advocates for improved living conditions and additional liberties for the ethnic minority Baluchis.
In 2019, it claimed credit for a bus suicide strike that killed 27 Iranian Revolutionary Guard members.
Sistan and Baluchistan province, which shares borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, is among the least developed regions in Iran.
Its populace is predominantly Sunni Muslim, unlike the mainly Shia Iran.
In response to protests over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who had been detained in Tehran on suspicion of improperly donning her hijab, severe crackdowns were also implemented in the province.
