TEHRAN (Xinhua) - Iran hanged 16 prisoners, who it called "terrorist elements", on Saturday to revenge an earlier bloody border attack in which 17 people were killed.
Mohammad Marzieh, General Prosecutor of Zahedan city, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, told semi-official ISNA that the " terrorist elements" were hanged in Zahedan on Saturday morning in response to the border attack on Friday night, which resulted in the deaths of a number of Iranian border guards.
"We had already warned of serious response to any terrorist movement in the province," Marzieh was quoted as saying.
"For sure, last night's terrorist attack in Saravan was carried out by those who serve the foreigners' interests," he added.
In Friday's clash in a mountainous area near Saravan city bordering Pakistan, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, 17 Iranian border guards were killed, five injured and four were taken hostage, according to local media reports on Saturday.
Quoting an informed source, the official IRNA news agency said the armed clash in Saravan city on Friday evening left 17 guards killed and numbers injured.
Deputy Governor of the province Rajabali Sheikhzadeh confirmed the news but declined to give further details.
Units of military and security forces from other cities of the province were dispatched to the border area, according to IRNA.
Also, the representative of Saravan city in the Iranian Majlis (parliament), Hedayatallah Mirmoradzehi, confirmed Saturday that in the incident in Gezistan region near Saravan city on Friday night 17 border guards were killed, semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Mirmoradzehi said the people of Saravan condemn the terrorist attack and ask the officials to seriously deal with the terrorists, according to Fars.
Another report by Fars said that in the attack, five guards were injured and four others were taken hostage.
On Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was quoted by Press TV as saying his government "is determined to deal with such guided mischief by relying on the nation's unwavering support for safeguarding the borders of the Islamic homeland."
"I, therefore, ask the interior minister to immediately set up a special committee, with the help of the police to investigate the incident," he said.
Also on Saturday, Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs, Ali Abdollahi, said the security council affiliated to his ministry is to probe the killing of the Iranian border guards.
Rouhani tasked the Iranian Foreign Ministry with taking necessary measures to implement the border security agreement with Pakistan.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
On Saturday, an informed source told IRNA that "bandits or rebels" were behind the attack. However, a report carried by Fars said Jeish-al-Adl group (The Army of Justice) is supposed to be responsible for it.
The Sunni rebel group of Jeish-al-Adl claims to stand for the rights of the Sunni people in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province. It was responsible for a number of attacks on Iran's border posts.
On Oct. 14, in an on-line statement, the group said in an attack on Iran's Nodo border post with Pakistan, it killed more than 10 Iranian guards.
Sistan and Baluchestan province, mostly populated by Sunni Muslims, has been the locus of bloody clashes between the Sunni rebels and the Iranian security forces.
The region is also located at the crossroad of the international drug smuggling route from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Europe.