Iranian security forces killed 11 Afghan drug traffickers this week in the northeastern province of Khorassan on the border with Afghanistan, the official IRNA news agency reported Thursday.
The men were killed during several days of violent clashes in the mountains with Iran's security forces, said Ali Mohadessi, the deputy governor of Torbate-Haydarieh City.
Iran is a major transit route between drug producers in neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan and drug markets in Europe and the Gulf.
Tehran officials, faced with increased consumption of drugs by young people, have stepped up their war against drug trafficking during the past few months.
In May, Iran's parliament voted to seal the country's 940-kilometer (600-mile) border with Afghanistan in a bid to contain drug smuggling -- TEHRAN(AFP)
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