Iran hangs 16 "rebels" after border clash

                                          

AAP - IRANIAN authorities have hanged 16 "rebels" following overnight clashes in which 14 border guards were killed on the frontier with Pakistan, a judicial official says.

"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 attorney general of Sistan-Baluchestan province, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency on Saturday.

Iran's official news agency IRNA said authorities were trying to determine whether the attackers were drug smugglers or armed opposition groups, both of which have occasionally ambushed Iranian troops.

The clashes took place on Friday night in a mountainous region outside Saravan, a town in southeast Iran on the border with Pakistan.

IRNA said five other Iranian guards were wounded in the attack.

Iran lies on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states.
Ethnic Baluch armed groups also operate in the area.