A police captain has been killed in Iran’s restive southeast in an attack claimed by a militant group, local media reported on Saturday.

Captain Abolghassem Piri from the police command in Suran village in Sistan-Baluchistan province on the border with Pakistan “was assassinated by armed criminals”, the ISNA news agency reported, citing police.

The militant group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) claimed the attack in a message on Telegram.

ISNA said the attack took place “inside a store where the owner was killed in the shooting”.

One of Iran’s poorest regions, Sistan-Baluchistan has long been plagued by unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and extremists.

On September 12, three policemen were killed in Mirjaveh in the same region in an attack also claimed by Jaish al-Adl.

The group also claimed two attacks in April that killed at least 15 security personnel in the province.