Eight Iranian border guards killed in attack by Pakistani militants

Eight Iranian border guards were killed on Monday in a clash with militants who had infiltrated from neighbouring Pakistan, according to official media in Iran.

"Armed terrorists entered Iran from Pakistan and clashed with border guards, killing eight soldiers before fleeing back to Pakistan," Ali Asghar Mirshekari, deputy governor of Sistan-Baluchistan province, told the IRNA news agency.

Mirshekari said three of the militants had been killed by Iranian forces. Senior police officer Colonel Rahman Mousavi told IRNA on Tuesday that an undisclosed number of “terror suspects” had been detained in relation to the attack and that details “will be released soon.”

The south-eastern province has a large Sunni community and has seen repeated attacks by militants on the security forces of mainly Shiite Iran.

But the clash in the Negur district is the deadliest since October 2013 when 14 border guards were killed in an attack claimed by Sunni militant group Jaish-ul Adl (Army of Justice).

The same group captured five Iranian troops in February last year. Four of them were released last April. The fifth is still missing presumed dead.