TEHRAN: Iranian authorities hanged on Saturday 16 “rebels” of an unspecified armed group in retaliation for the death of 14 border guards near the frontier with Pakistan.

Iranian media said three guards were captured by “bandits.”

The 16 were executed on Saturday morning hours after the rebels ambushed the border guards near the town of Saravan in southeast Iran, local judicial official Mohammad Marzieh told the Fars news agency.

The border guards were killed by the armed group following clashes Friday night.

“These individuals were executed this Saturday morning in response to the terrorist action of last evening at Saravan and the martyrdom of the border guards,” Zahedan public prosecutor Mohammad Marzieh said, ISNA said.

The reports gave no details on the identity of the gunmen who had killed the border guards, but the area has a history of unrest, with the mainly Sunni Muslim population complaining of discrimination by Iran’s Shiite authorities.

Jundullah, an armed group which Iran claims is linked to Al-Qaeda, has claimed a number of attacks and kidnappings since 2003, including a 2010 suicide bombing that killed dozens of people at a Shiite congregation.

“We want Pakistani officials to take steps regarding more serious and stronger control of their borders than in the past,” Deputy Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi told ISNA.

Abdollahi said Iran was working to free the captured guards.