TEHRAN - Iran's police chief announced on Wednesday that the country will target terrorists “wherever” it sees fit after 11 police forces were killed in a terrorist attack in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.

Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan made the remarks while visiting the city of Rask, where the terrorist attack took place on Friday.

“Among the 11 police forces that were martyred, there were several Sunni individuals. This shows that the enemy does not distinguish between religious sects and different ethnicities. It wants to deal a blow to everyone in the Iranian nation,” Radan explained. 

Sistan and Baluchestan is home to a large part of Iran’s Sunni minority. Different foreign forces have been trying to spark religious conflicts between Shias and Sunnis in the past decades, despite the Iranian people’s centuries of peaceful coexistence. 

The Police chief also called on Iran’s neighbor Pakistan to take the fight against terrorism more seriously.   

“I want to assure the people of Iran and our colleagues across the country that the terror act will not go unpunished. We are working with intelligence forces and other armed units to bring all the terrorists to justice,” the official stated. 

The Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which was one of the deadliest in years for the region sitting close to Iran’s border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Iran’s interior minister has pointed the finger of blame at Israel, saying the regime was the one to recruit and train the terrorists.