Policeman dies after armed men blow up gas tanker truck in Iran

A policeman was killed and another seriously wounded after armed men blew up a tanker truck carrying liquified gas in northwestern Iran early on Wednesday, Mehr news agency reported.

Police approached two men at a petrol station in the town of Dareh Garm and the men began shooting at the tanker, the agency said.

There was a “horrific explosion” which blew out windows in nearby buildings, Col Seyed Ali Mirahmadi, the deputy police chief of Iran’s northwestern Lorestan province, was quoted as saying.

The report gave no information about the identity of the attackers, or what happened to them.

Several members of Iran’s security forces have been killed in recent clashes with militants on Iran’s eastern and western borders, Reuters reported.

In September, militants attacked a military parade in the city of Ahvaz, killing at least 25 people. Islamic State and a separatist group from Iran’s Arab minority both claimed responsibility for the attack.