Afghans attack Iran consulate over alleged killings

The 200-strong crowd threw rocks and broke consulate windows.


Afp December 09, 2012

HERAT: Hundreds of angry demonstrators tried to storm the Iranian consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat on Sunday in protest at the alleged killing of Afghan immigrants by Iranian security forces.

The 200-strong crowd threw rocks and broke consulate windows before security forces drove them back by firing warning shots into the air, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

The crowd claimed 13 Afghans who had crossed the border into Iran were seized and later shot dead by Iranian security forces about three months ago.

"Over the past several months we have been demanding the Iranians return the bodies of our relatives but they are not returning them," one protester told AFP.

Protesters shouted slogans against Iran and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and said they would "support the United States if it invades Iran".

Dozens of police blocked the crowd as it tried to storm the Iranian consulate, the AFP reporter said. The mob later gathered around the governor's house and continued shouting anti-Iran slogans, he added.

Consulate officials could not be reached for comment.

About 2.4 million Afghans – refugees and illegal immigrants – live in Iran, many of whom moved after the 1979 Soviet invasion. Afghans continue to migrate to Iran and Pakistan in search of work and for political reasons.

Crossing the border with the help of local human traffickers, migrants sometimes end up being jailed by Iranian border guards.

Relations between Tehran and Kabul are apparently normal but ordinary Afghans accuse Iran of committing atrocities against Afghan refugees and executing Afghan prisoners.

COMMENTS (4)

Zalmai | 11 years ago | Reply

@The Khan

Bro. Half of Afghanistan is under control of Iran (exemplified by the recent naming of a street in Herat in remembrance of slain Iranian embassy officials under taliban rule), half of Afghanistan is under control of war lords and rest is under government control. They did it because they had no choice

I see you have been reading Jang or Daily Rupee. Per your information all of Afghanistan is run by Iran, warlords and the Taliban but the ironic thing is Pakistan government's writ does not extend beyond parts of Islamabad. Your country is run by LET, LEJ, TTP, BLA, Sipah e Sahaba, Ahl e Sunna, Ahl e Shia, Ahl e Ahmadi, Ahl e Barelvi, Ahl e Deobandi, oh bro the list is too long. Have you ever heard of the idiom, the pot calling the kettle black?

Your country is a province of Saudi Arabia and UAE and you have the gall to talk about Afghanistan. Wake up and smell the Doodhpatti.

The Khan | 11 years ago | Reply

@Thinker: Bro. Half of Afghanistan is under control of Iran (exemplified by the recent naming of a street in Herat in remembrance of slain Iranian embassy officials under taliban rule), half of Afghanistan is under control of war lords and rest is under government control. They did it because they had no choice

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