8 gunmen and 5 security force members die in clashes in Iran's southeast

Eight gunmen and five members of Iranian security forces were killed in clashes at two separate points in southeastern Iran, state media said Thursday.

The official IRNA news agency said 10 other security force members were injured.

It said the fighting erupted overnight in Sistan and Baluchistan province when gunmen opened fire on a Revolutionary Guard post in Rask town and a coast guard station in Chahbahar city, some 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.

IRNA said six assailants were under siege and holding hostages at the two sites. It did not elaborate on the hostages, but it blamed the attacks on the militant group Jaish al-Adl, which allegedly seeks greater rights for the ethnic Baluch minority.

The restive area, bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been the site of occasional deadly clashes involving the militant group, armed drug smugglers and Iranian security forces. In December, militants killed nearly a dozen police officers in an attack on a police station in the province.

The area is one of the least developed parts of Iran. Relations between the predominantly Sunni Muslim residents of the region and Iran's Shiite theocracy have long been strained.