TEHRAN- According to Brigadier General Ahmadreza Radan, the chief of Iran’s police, Iranian security forces have apprehended and identified the four main suspects in a violent terrorist attack on Rask County’s police headquarters in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.

Radan added that the terrorists were ambushed and apprehended during a counter-terrorism police operation conducted in recent days.

The head of Iranian police noted that the terrorist group known as Jaish al-Adl, which is located in Pakistan and has claimed responsibility for the assault, suffered a severe blow as a result of their arrest since they felt they were not being monitored.

Noting several weapons and equipment used for terror acts had been found among the detainees, Radan emphasized that a thorough investigation was being conducted and that the findings would be made public when it was finished.

He also stated that Iranian police forces had acquired vital information regarding additional individuals engaged in the fatal terrorist act.

According to Alireza Marhamati, deputy governor of Sistan-Baluchistan Province for security and political matters, 11 police officers and conscripts were killed in the attack on Rask Police headquarters on December 15 of last year.

Majid Mirahmadi, deputy interior minister for security and police affairs, said at the time that the terrorists attacked the police post from several directions and later ambushed reinforcements deployed to the location.

In the hours-long fighting that followed, he said, two of the terrorists were slain and one was injured before being taken into custody, with the remaining terrorists managing to flee.

Six police officers were hurt during the exchange of fire, he added. 

The attack, which occurred about midnight, was one of the worst in recent years in the region near Iran’s border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

There have been other similar attacks such as the one on July 23 that resulted in the deaths of four police officers who were on patrol.

That occurred two weeks after Jaish al-Adl claimed to have murdered two police officers and four attackers in a gunfight in the region.