TEHRAN – An Iranian police officer was killed in the early hours of Sunday in an armed attack in the border province of Sistan-Baluchistan in southeast Iran.

The officer, Alireza Shahraki, was in his car in the city of Saravan when unknown gunmen opened fire at him. Shahraki’s wife was also injured during the attack.

Doost Ali Jalilian, the province’s police chief, said investigations are underway to identify and arrest the perpetrators. No arrests made in connection to the attack yet.

Saeed Tajlili, the governor of Saravan, told IRNA on Sunday that Lieutenant Colonel Ali-Reza Shahraki had been assassinated earlier in the day when he was inside his own car at a crossroad in Saravan.

Shahraki's wife was seriously injured in the attack, said the governor, adding that an investigation was launched to identify the perpetrators.

In January, two police officers were killed in Bampour County while in the line of duty. The police chief of Sistan-Baluchistan province said at the time that the officers were attacked by “evil” assailants in early hours while walking the beat in Bampour. After attacking the officers, the police chief said, the evil assailants sped away.

In early December, a conscript was killed and another wounded in a deadly shooting in the border province. The two conscripts were targeted at night in the port city of Chabahar, southeast Iran.

According to the media, two gunmen shot at the conscripts who were in the line of duty. One conscript, identified as Aref Hooti, lost his life as a result of the shooting and the other one, Benyamin Fazeli, was shot in the shoulder and received treatment in a local hospital.

The province witnessed a surge in violence during the protests that erupted September in 2022, with dozens killed and injured in the provincial capital of Zahedan.