Top Iranian police investigator in south-east province shot dead

The head of the police's criminal investigation department in a south-eastern province of Iran was shot dead by unknown gunmen on Sunday, Mehr news agency reported.

The wife of Major Ali Reza Shahraki, who was driving with his family, was taken to hospital in critical condition. Shahraki ran the department in the Saravan district of Sistan and Baluchestan province.

Authorities are investigating. Attacks, whose motives remain unclear, have increased in recent days in the country.

On Saturday, two religious students were injured in a car-ramming attack in the Iranian city of Qom.

During the week, a senior Iranian cleric, Abbas Ali Soleimani, was assassinated by a bank guard in northern Iran.

Iran has been gripped by unrest since last autumn, following the death of the Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody for allegedly violating dress codes.

The killings appear to be the latest in a series of incidents following the anti-government protests and mysterious poisonings at girls' schools.

On Friday Iran's intelligence service published a final report on the poisonings, saying there is no organized network of perpetrators. It said the cases are a matter of nationwide mass hysteria.

Human rights organization Amnesty International recently called for more clarification, saying the poisonings appeared to be "a coordinated campaign to punish schoolgirls for their peaceful participation in nationwide protests."