Suicide car bombing kills 2 in southeast Iran, state TV says

A suicide car bomber attacked a police headquarters in the Iranian port city of Chabahar on Thursday, killing at least two police and wounding 28 people, state TV reported. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The suicide attacker driving a vehicle loaded with explosives drove up to the police headquarters, provincial official Rahmdel Bameri told state TV. He said police officers blocked the vehicle and started firing at the driver, who then detonated the explosives.

State TV also aired footage of smoke rising over the city. State television said two police officers were killed, lowering an earlier death toll of three without explanation.

Authorities did not identify who was behind the attack, but Iranian media initially blamed the attack on Ansar Furqan, a Sunni jihadi group.

Ansar Furqan is known to operate in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province, which sees occasional attacks by Baluch separatists and drug traffickers. A year ago, the group claimed to have blown up an oil pipeline in Iran’s southern Khuzestan province.

Chabahar, near the border with Pakistan on the Sea of Oman, is home to a newly built port and is an economic free zone.

The attack comes as Iran’s economy reels in the wake of the U.S. reimposing sanctions lifted under Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. Although Iran still complies with the accord, President Trump withdrew America from the deal in part due to Tehran’s ballistic missile program, its involvement in regional conflicts and its support of militant groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah.

While they are rare, militant attacks have targeted Iran in recent years.