10 illegal Afghans dead, 11 injured in Iran collision

ZARANJ (Pajhwok): Ten illegal Afghan migrants have been killed and 11 others wounded in a road crash in neighbouring Iran, a media report said on Friday.

The deadly accident occurred on Thursday morning on the Saravan-Khash road in southern Sistan-Balochistan province, Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

The casualties occurred as a passenger pick-up collided with an oil tanker in the area -- the scene of occasional clashes between Iranian security personnel, drug smugglers, bandits and militants links to Al-Qaeda.

Local officials were quoted as saying the men had illegally entered Iran. The injured have been hospitalised, but no official word was immediately available about their condition.

Habibullah, an Afghan based in Iran, told Pajhwok over the telephone that 14 Afghans had died in the collision. Human smugglers took the Afghans from Nimroz province to Iran.

Meanwhile, an official of the Nimroz refugees and repatriation department acknowledged around 600 Afghans sneaked daily into the neighbouring country from the province. But half of them are sent back.

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