Senior police officer killed in fresh attack in southeastern Iran

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) - A senior police officer was killed by unidentified assailants in southeastern Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province on Sunday, in the latest incident of targeted attacks on law enforcement officials in the restive province.

Colonel Alireza Shahraki, who headed the police's criminal investigation department in Saravan County of the border province, was shot at multiple times in his car, reports said.

The slain police officer's wife, who was critically injured in the attack, also succumbed to her injuries hours later at a hospital, state media reported.

The armed assailants fled the scene after the incident. Judiciary officials in the province have ordered an investigation into the fatal attack and arrest of perpetrators.

Sistan-Baluchestan province, which borders Pakistan, has seen numerous attacks on security forces in recent years, mostly blamed on local militant groups.

Last month, two police officers were killed in an ambush in Gulshan County of the province while they were on patrol.

Earlier this week, a senior Iranian cleric and a former representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Sistan-Baluchestan province, Ayatollah Abbasali Soleimani, was killed in an armed attack in northern Mazandaran province.

At least three others were also injured in the attack that was carried out at a bank by a private security guard.