Iran hangs 16 rebels in retaliation of 17 guards killed on the frontier with Pakistan

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Iranian authorities on Saturday hanged 16 “rebels” following overnight clashes in which 17 border guards were killed on the frontier with Pakistan, a judicial official said.“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-Balochistan province, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.“We warned the rebel groups that any attack targeting civilians or members of the security forces would not go unanswered,” he added.Earlier, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported armed men killed 17 border guards in clashes Friday night in a mountainous region outside the southeastern town on the border with Pakistan.“Fourteen border guards were killed during armed clashes in the region of Saravan, and five others were wounded,” the agency quoted an informed source as saying, only identifying the gunmen as “bandits or rebels opposed to the Islamic republic”.Deputy Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi said that the guards had been killed during the ambush set by Iranians who were “members of hostile groups”.He said that “three soldiers have been taken hostage and taken to the other side of the border in Pakistan”.Saravan lies in the southeastern province of Sistan-Balochistan near the Pakistani border.The Sistan-Balochistan province has seen militants from the terrorist group Jundallah launch bloody attacks in recent years.It was still unclear whether the attackers were drug smugglers or armed opposition groups./129