Gunmen Attack Iran Police Station, Killing 11 

An Iranian woman walks past an Iranian flag painted on a wall in a street in Tehran on April 10, 2023. (AFP)
An Iranian woman walks past an Iranian flag painted on a wall in a street in Tehran on April 10, 2023. (AFP)
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Gunmen Attack Iran Police Station, Killing 11 

An Iranian woman walks past an Iranian flag painted on a wall in a street in Tehran on April 10, 2023. (AFP)
An Iranian woman walks past an Iranian flag painted on a wall in a street in Tehran on April 10, 2023. (AFP)

Baluch gunmen attacked a police station in southeastern Iran early on Friday, killing 11 security personnel and wounding several, state television said.

State media added that several members of the extremist Jaish al-Adl group were also killed in ensuing clashes in the town of Rask in the impoverished province of Sistan-Baluchestan.

The province bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan has a predominantly Sunni Muslim population, in contrast to most Iranians, who are Shiite.

It has long been the site of frequent clashes between security forces and Sunni militants, as well as drug smugglers.

Jaish al-Adl, which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for ethnic minority Baluchis, has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent years on Iranian security forces in the province.



Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
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Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)

An Italian journalist detained in Iran since Dec. 19 and whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States was freed Wednesday and is heading home, Italian officials announced.

A plane carrying Cecilia Sala took off from Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office said, adding that Meloni had informed Sala's parents of the news.

There was no immediate word from the Iranian government on the journalist’s release.

Sala, a 29-year-old reporter for the Il Foglio daily, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist visa. She was accused of violating the laws of the country, the official IRNA news agency said.

Italian commentators had speculated that Iran was holding Sala as a bargaining chip to ensure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport three days before on Dec. 16, on a US warrant.

The US Justice Department accused him and another Iranian of supplying the drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a US outpost near the Syrian-Jordanian border that killed three American troops.

He remains in detention in Italy.