TEHRAN -- Iranian police killed a member of a three-man armed group identified as one of the main perpetrators of an attack on police officers in Iranshahr, in southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan Province, and arrested two others, the provincial police chief said on Wednesday.
Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Es’haqi said special police units conducted the operation in southern Sistan and Baluchestan after intelligence monitoring and efforts to track the armed individuals’ activities.
Es’haqi said officers identified “a three-member cell of armed individuals with criminal records.” The group members “resisted and opened fire on police officers when confronted,” prompting a response from security forces, he added.
“During the armed confrontation, one of the criminals, who was among the main perpetrators of the shooting at police officers in Iranshahr, was killed, and the two other suspects were arrested,” Es’haqi said.
The police chief said one of the arrested individuals had two previous homicide convictions and was wanted by judicial authorities. Officers seized a military-grade Colt handgun, its ammunition and two stolen Peugeot passenger cars, he added.
The operation follows an Oct. 5 attack on a police patrol along the Bampour-Iranshahr road, in which Second Lieutenant Amirhossein Qasemi and First Sergeant Nezam
 Dastgoshadeh were killed and another officer was wounded.
Sistan and Baluchestan, a southeastern province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, has experienced a series of armed attacks targeting security forces in recent weeks.
On Oct. 29, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said its forces had dismantled four armed cells in the province and arrested 16 members, while detaining three others for transmitting information about security and defense facilities to U.S.-Israeli espionage networks. 
The ministry said some of those arrested had entered Iran from abroad, and that “a number of the arrested terrorists were responsible for the martyrdom of security personnel in Iranshahr County.” Security forces seized nine Kalashnikov rifles, two U.S.-made M4 rifles and seven handguns.
On Oct. 27, Iranian security forces arrested several members of the Jaish al-Adl terrorist group near Bampour during a pursuit operation, provincial officials said. On Oct. 21, police killed an armed individual in Khash County after occupants of two Peugeot vehicles opened fire on officers investigating suspicious activity.