An attack by the jihadist separatist group Jaish al-Adl on a courthouse in Iran’s south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan has killed at least six civilians, including a mother and child, and wounded 22, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

Attackers stormed the building, shooting a number of people inside. They then launched a second attack with mortars and grenade launchers on the courthouse, where a clash began with security forces that lasted three hours, according to the Baluch human rights group Haalvsh.

Three gunmen were killed in the clash, Iran’s state news agency said.

State media said several people injured in the attack were in critical condition and had been transferred to local hospitals.

Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on Telegram and told civilians to evacuate the area “for their safety”. Residents reported hearing several explosions and gunfire, while some roads that led to the courthouse were closed, Haalvsh reported.

Sistan-Baluchestan province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has had an ongoing insurgency for the past two decades. It is home to Iran’s Sunni Baluch minority, who have advocated for autonomy and have long maintained that they experience marginalisation and exclusion under the Iranian government.

The insurgency is part of a greater insurgency in Balochistan, which includes the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is waged by Islamic militant groups and separatists and has included attacks which have wounded civilians as well as state security personnel in both countries.

Jaish al-Adl is one of the Islamist militant groups in the province, and has been fighting Iranian security forces since 2014. Iranian authorities have designated the organisation a terrorist group and have accused Pakistan and Israel of backing the group.

The group carried out an attack on a police station in Sistan-Baluchestan province in December 2023, killing 11 people. An attack by the group on Iranian border guards in January 2024 led to Iran striking Pakistan, saying it was targeting a Jaish al-Adl cell in the country.

The Iranian government has accused the insurgency movement of being funded by foreign actors and of engaging in illegal smuggling operations.

The deputy police chief of Sistan-Baluchestan province, Sardar Alireza Deliri, described Jaish al-Adl on Saturday as being affiliated with “Zionists”, referring to Israel. He said the three militants killed were the only ones involved in the attack and claimed they were wearing undetonated suicide belts. (AFP, excluding headline)