TEHRAN: Gunmen ambushed and killed two Iranian policemen on patrol in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, state media reported on Saturday.

The officers had been `on a mission to provide security` during Friday prayers in the town of Golshan when they came under attack, said the official news agency IRNA.

Clashes ensued and led to the `martyrdom` of Lieutenant-Colonel Mohsen Pudinehiand Lieutenant Ehsan Shahrakiat the hands of `criminals`, it said, without elaborating.

Sistan-Baluchistan province, on Iran`s border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been the scene of weekly protests that flared in September over the alleged rape of a teenage girl by a police officer.

The protests began two weeks after nationwide demonstrations erupted over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic`s dress code for women. The area has previously seen clashes with drug smuggling gangs as well as rebels from the Baluchi minority and sectarian groups.-AFP