State English-language Press TV said on its website that traffic police ordered a car to stop after it raised their suspicions by driving at high speed on a road between the cities of Zahedan and Khash, "After the police ordered the car to stop, its passengers began firing at the police, which resulted in the death of three officers," police official Mohammad Arab was quoted as saying. Press TV did not give any further details.
Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, home to Shi'ite Muslim-dominated Iran's mostly Sunni ethnic Baluchis. The province is a transit route for smuggling of narcotics from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Western markets. An ethnic Baluch Sunni rebel group, Jundollah (God's soldiers), also operates in the region.