Iran reports ten border guards dead in clash with suspected militants

Guards killed in ambush near Iran’s border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, a region often hit by militant clashes.

Ten Iranian border guards were killed in an attack in restive southeastern Iran on Saturday, state media quoted the interior ministry as saying, in the latest clash with suspected Sunni Muslim militants.

The 10 were killed in an ambush in an area which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and has long been the site of clashes between Iranian security forces and Sunni militants as well as drug traffickers.

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Guards were killed in an ambush in an area which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and has long been the site of clashes between Iranian security forces and Sunni militants as well as drug traffickers.

According to the Iranian Press and TV website, the attack, which took place approximately 1,200 kilometers southeast of Tehran, was later claimed by Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni militant group.

Iran’s Interior Minister, Eskandar Mo'meni, has ordered a team of senior police commanders and ministry officials to investigate the incident. Sistan and Baluchestan province, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, has experienced frequent attacks on civilians and security forces in recent years. Saturday’s attack marks one of the deadliest in the region in recent months. Earlier this month, six people, including police officers, were killed in separate incidents in the same area.