Gunmen identified as "bandits" killed 14 Iranian guards on the border with Pakistan in clashes overnight.

Gunmen identified as "bandits" killed 14 Iranian guards on the border with Pakistan in clashes overnight, state media reported on Saturday.

The official IRNA news agency, quoting what it called an informed source, said the clashes occurred in a mountainous region used by both drug traffickers and armed rebels.

"Fourteen border guards were killed during armed clashes in the region of Saravan, and five others were wounded," the agency said.

The unnamed source identified the gunmen as "bandits or rebels opposed to the Islamic republic".

Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Ali Abdollahi said the Security Council affiliated to his ministry is to probe the killing of Iranian border guards.

Talking to IRNA, he said the council is to meet on Sunday to probe into the massacre of 14 Iranian border guards during clashes with outlaws on Friday night .

The region has scene bloody clashes over the past few years and officials say that more than 4,000 police officers and soldiers have been killed in the past three decades in fighting with traffickers.

In October last year three Iranian border guards were killed in clashes with armed drug traffickers in the Koshtegan region, also near the border with Pakistan.

The Islamic republic says it is fighting a deadly war against drug traffickers who make up half its prison population.