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Thirty-five Iranian law enforcement officers have been killed in a clash with drug smugglers in the south of the country, according to officials in Iran.
The deadly encounter took place in the desolate desert wasteland south of the city of Iranshahr.
Drug control officials said that six or seven vehicles loaded with about 50 armed police were sent to a site where they believed a large cache of smuggled drugs had been stored for onward trafficking to Europe.
But the depot was guarded by heavily-armed smugglers who immediately engaged the Iranian forces.
Smugglers flee to Pakistan
A fierce battle broke out which lasted for several hours. It resulted in the 35 Iranian police being killed and a much smaller number injured.
Iranian officials said there were casualties among the smugglers, but they fled across the border into Pakistan, taking their dead and wounded with them.
They left behind large quantities of arms and drugs, mainly morphine and hashish.
The traffickers are believed to belong to a well-known smuggling ring operating from Pakistan, carrying narcotics produced in Afghanistan through Iran to markets in Europe.
Iran is expected to raise the incident with the Pakistani authorities and to seek their co-operation in tracking down the culprits.
For years now, Iran has been conducting what amounts to a low-level war to try to stem the flow of drugs all along its eastern borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is a costly battle in which nearly 3,000 Iranian personnel have been killed.
Iran is being given high credit internationally for its efforts to combat the drugs trade, which threatens its own society as well as others further afield.
Country profiles
Drugs haul from Iranian camel caravan
(24 Jun 99 | Middle East)
Clashes with drug smugglers in Iran
(30 May 99 | Middle East)
A global fight against drugs
(09 Jun 98 | Americas)
The heroin epidemic
(19 May 98 | Drugs)
Afghanistan's opium harvest
(09 May 98 | From Our Own Correspondent)
International Drug Strategy Institute
International Narcotics Control Board
Islamic Republic News Agency (Irna)
United Nations Drugs Control Programme
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