Guards on Iran's border with Pakistan and Afghanistan
face threats from both insurgents and drug traffickers
Sixteen rebels have been hanged in Iran in
retaliation for the deaths of at least 14 border
guards in an ambush, say Iranian news agencies.
The rebels were "linked to groups hostile to the
regime", the attorney general of Sistan-Baluchistan
province was quoted as saying.
They were hanged in prison in Zahedan, north-east of
Saravan, where the border deaths took place overnight.
It is not clear what link, if any, those hanged had to the
border attack.
One report suggests they may already have been tried
and convicted, but their executions brought forward
following the ambush.
Friday night's attack in a mountainous region outside
Saravan, on the south-eastern border with Pakistan,
was blamed by Saravan's member of parliament,
Hedayatollah Mirmoradzehi, on "anti-revolution
guerrillas".
But reports that a rebel group called Jeish Al-Adl had
claimed responsibility for the ambush were "not
confirmed", Mr Mirmoradzehi told local Tasnim news
agency.
An armed Sunni group, called Jundallah, has carried
out a number of attacks against the state in recent
years.
The Sunni Muslim population in Sistan-Baluchistan
complains of discrimination by Iran's Shia
establishment.
"Sixteen rebels linked to groups hostile to the regime
were hanged this morning in the prison of Zahedan in
response to the death of border guards in Saravan,"
Mohammad Marzieh, the provincial attorney general of
Sistan-Baluchistan province, was quoted as saying by
Fars news agency.
The hangings were also reported by the Iranian
Students News Agency (Isna).
At least 14 guards were killed in the attack, with 17
previously reported to have died. A number were also
wounded, reports said.
Fars has quoted the province's deputy governor-
general, Rajabali Sheikhzadeh, as saying the culprits fled
to Pakistan following the border attack.
The region has experienced frequent deadly clashes in
recent years.
Iran lies on a major drug trafficking route between
Afghanistan and Europe.
AFP news agency quotes officials as saying more than
4,000 police officers and soldiers have been killed in
the past three decades in fighting with traffickers.
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