DHAKA: Fourteen Iranian border guards have been killed in a clash with gunmen on the border with Pakistan.

The official Iranian news agency Irna says, reports the BBC.

The clashes took place on Friday night in a mountainous region outside Saravan, a border town in the south-east province of Sistan Baluchistan.

Five border guards were wounded in the attack, Irna said.

An unnamed official quoted by the agency blamed ‘bandits or rebels opposed to the Islamic republic’.

Iran lies on a major drug trafficking route between Afghanistan and Europe.

Militants also operate in the mainly Sunni Muslim area, where the population complains of discrimination by Iran’s Shia establishment.

The region has experienced repeated deadly clashes over previous years.

BDST: 1338 HRS, OCT 26, 2013
RoR/BSK