TEHRAN: An officer has been killed in an attack on a police station in southeastern Iran, state media reported Thursday, as unrest in Sistan-Baluchistan province spread to provincial capital Zahedan.

The violence began earlier this week when a clash involving fuel smugglers at the Pakistani border triggered attacks on government buildings in the nearby city of Saravan, 270 kilometres (170 miles) southeast of Zahedan, in which at least one person was fatally wounded.

The province has long been a flashpoint for cross-border attacks by separatists and Sunni extremists. Zahedan county governor Abouzarmahdi Nakahei said the latest violence was fuelled by "fake" reports of deaths in the unrest in Saravan.

"Following the propaganda and rumours by foreign media, criminal elements attacked Kurin police station in Zahedan with light weapons and grenade launchers," Nakahei told state news agency IRNA, without saying when the attack took place.

He said the assailants had acted on the "excuse of showing solidarity for the fake deaths at Saravan's Shamsar police station."