Dozens of Afghan refugees have reportedly been massacred by Iranian border guards as they ambushed the desperate group of 300 trying to flee the Taliban.
The Islamic Republic’s border forces opened fire on the migrants as they attempted to cross into Iran across the Iran-Pakistan border on Sunday night, multiple sources reported.
“Dozens of Afghan citizens at the Saravan border were attacked,” said human rights news agency Haalvsh, which monitors rights violations in Iran’s Sistan and Balochistan region.
According to Haalvsh, border guards brutally fired bullets and rockets in the direction of migrants as they tried to enter Iran illegally.
A survivor of the group claimed that only between 50 and 60 people made it out of the ambush alive, but due to the lack of Internet access in the remote region, the exact number of victims has not yet been officially confirmed.
Some 300 Afghan nationals on the Iran-Pakistan border were reportedly attacked by Iranian border guards as they tried to flee the Taliban on Sunday.
Dozens of refugees massacred by guards, according to local reports
The alleged massacre comes after an offensive by the Iranian regime against migrants trying to escape the clutches of the Taliban. Pictured: Taliban security personnel stand guard as a burqa-clad Afghan woman (right) walks down a street in a market in the Baharak district of Badakhshan province on February 26, 2024.
“We were at the Kalagan border when we were ambushed,” said one survivor.
‘We were around 300 people, maybe 50 or 60 people survived unharmed, everyone else was martyred or injured. Twelve of my friends were also killed.”
Haalvsh posted videos purportedly showing the bodies of those killed, claiming that the refugees were not only the target of gunfire but also RPG attacks.
Graphic images showed the bodies of several migrants lying motionless in the desert and their clothes stained red with blood.
One clip, filmed overnight, shows a man urgently trying to stop the blood flowing from a seriously injured colleague.
He quickly wraps a scarf around the victim’s leg, but blood gushing from the wound seeps into the material and begins to seep through the fabric.
“He’s my cousin and they shot him four times,” a man’s voice could be heard saying.
“It happened when we were crossing into Iran.”
The incident has sparked widespread outrage and concern both nationally and internationally.
However, neither the Iranian authorities nor the Taliban have issued official statements about the event.
The former Afghan attorney general has said the “deliberate killing” of Afghan migrants by Iranian border guards is a “crime against humanity.”
Haalvsh posted videos purportedly showing the bodies of those killed, claiming that the refugees were not only the target of gunfire but also RPG attacks.
The Islamic Republic has said it hopes to achieve two million deportations by March next year. Pictured: A Taliban security personnel talks to a flag seller in front of the Eid Gah mosque in Kabul on April 20, 2023.
Mohammad Farid Hamidi, former attorney general of Afghanistan, said in
Several injured migrants were rushed to a clinic in a nearby Pakistani city, but before police arrived to carry out the necessary legal procedures, the injured migrants had fled the center.
However, the Islamic Republic’s special representative for Afghanistan denied the shooting.
“So far it has been confirmed that reports of the death of dozens of illegal migrants at the Saravan border are false,” said Hassan Kazemi Ghomi.
He said the Islamic Republic “is determined to return unauthorized refugees and take legal action against their illegal entry at all border points.”
The alleged massacre comes after an offensive by the Iranian regime against migrants trying to escape the clutches of the Taliban.
According to the UN, around 4.5 million Afghans live in Iran and many have fled the country since the government took power from the Taliban in 2021.
To prevent more migrants from reaching the country, Tehran has also launched plans to build a 13-foot-high wall along a 900-kilometer stretch of the border with Afghanistan.
The Islamic Republic has said it hopes to achieve two million deportations by March next year, and Afghans have already been banned from buying food, renting houses and visiting certain places.