Militants kill 4 highway policemen in southeast Iran, state TV says

TEHRAN, Iran — Militants shot and killed four highway policemen Sunday in southeast Iran, state media reported.

State TV said the officers were on a routine mission on a road linking Khash and Taftan towns some 1200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran, in restive Sistan and Baluchistan province, when they were "attacked by terrorists,” a reference to separatist groups.

The province has witnessed multiple clashes between Iranian security forces and drug smugglers as well as a Sunni separatist group affiliated with the extremist group al-Qaida, known as Jeish al-Adl, or Army of Justice.

Sistan and Baluchistan province is a well-known route for drug and human trafficking from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Europe and Arab nations in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere.