Drug traffickers kill 11 revolutionary guards in Iran

Eleven members of Iran's elite revolutionary guards have been killed in clashes with drug traffickers and rebels in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, a newspaper said on Saturday.

"The clashes happened on Thursday night with armed traffickers and rebels. Nine guards and members of the basij (militia) were also wounded," Ghasem Hasanzadeh, a spokesman for the guards, was quoted as saying by the government daily Iran.

Sistan-Baluchestan lies on a major narcotics smuggling route from neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the past 20 years, thousands of policemen, soldiers and border guards have been killed in clashes with drug traffickers.