TEHRAN, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iranian senior officials on Friday condemned a deadly "terror" attack on a police station in the southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan Province earlier in the day, reported local media.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi expressed condolences to the victims' families in a message, calling on the country's security and law enforcement forces to identify the perpetrators and orderers of the "heinous crime" and punish them as soon as possible, according to a statement published on the website of his office.
Iranian Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei blamed "Iran's enemies" for the attack, vowing that severe punishment would be meted out to them, according to the Mizan news agency of the judiciary.
Also, in a message addressed to Iran's Police Chief Ahmad-Reza Radan, the country's Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi vowed that "the terrorists and their sponsors have to know that they will definitely be captured by Iranian police, security and intelligence forces and will receive the harshest punishment," according to the official news agency IRNA.
At least 11 policemen and two assailants were killed as well as eight others injured in the attack on a police station in Rask County in the early morning.
The "Jaish al-Zulm group," a separatist cell that Iran says has ties to al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, the semi-official Tasnim reported.
According to Tasnim, the Iranian security forces were conducting a manhunt for the rest of the "terrorists," who had fled the scene, and a helicopter was deployed along the common border with Pakistan to identify the assailants, the report added.
Bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, Sistan and Baluchestan province has witnessed several terrorist attacks on both civilians and security forces over the past years. ■
