Iranian police forces have killed 40 mostly Afghan armed bandits in the east of the country in the past five days, provincial officials said in Sunday's press.
"We have also succeeded in liberating 12 people who had been taken hostage by bandits and drug traffickers," said Mohsen Mehralizadeh, governor of the border province of Khorassan.
Iran is a major transshipment point for narcotics coming from Afghanistan and Pakistan en route to markets in Europe and the Gulf and residents of the unruly eastern border regions have been subjected to regular kidnappings.
Iran blames the Sunni Muslim Taliban militia, which now controls most of Afghanistan, for the sharp rise in trafficking and drug-related crime in the area.
According to government statistics, 740 traffickers and 174 policemen were killed last year alone -- TEHRAN (AFP)
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