Iran hangs 16 prisoners after guards killed near Pakistan border

Iran's regime carried out a series of revenge executions on Saturday, hanging 16 prisoners in retaliation for a rebel attack which killed 14 border guards. The bloodshed in Sistan-Baluchestan province showed how south-eastern Iran is still affected by a long-running insurgency. Sunnis from the Baluch ethnic minority inhabit this remote desert region, near the border with Pakistan. They are viewed with deep suspicion by Iran’s Shia Persian rulers. A Baluch armed group styling itself “Jundallah” has fought the government for decades. On Friday, gunmen killed 14 Iranian border guards and wounded another five during what IRNA, the official news agency, called “armed clashes in the region of Saravan”. The authorities took revenge on Saturday by executing 16 inmates of Zahedan prison, all of whom were described as “rebels”. There was no suggestion that any of the hanged were responsible for the deaths of the border guards in the latest incident.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/10406372/Iran-hangs-16-prisoners-after-guards-killed-near-Pakistan-border.html