Tehran, Iran, May 8
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
A truck that was carrying illegal Afghan refugees into Iran was chased by Iranian police which ended in shooting.
As the truck stopped, it turned out six had been killed and 18 others injured inside it, ISNA news agency reported May 8.
The incident happened on May 7 afternoon in the eastern Iranian county of Rafsanjan.
The report says many of the refugees aged between 20 and 30.
Local police chief Alireza Parivar told reporters that the truck had been spotted moving in the desert by petrol forces and chased after refusing to stop.
He said the major shooting started when the driver, who had already gone five kilometers on flat tires, decided to run among police forces who had blocked the road ahead of him.
Iran faces a huge income of illegal Afghan refugees. Earlier Brigadier General Hossein Zolfaqari, the Islamic Republic's Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs said that over three million Afghani refugees live in Iran.
Iran hosts over 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees, he said, adding the same number of illegal Afghani refugees also live in the country.