Afghanistan probes report Iranian border guards threw migrants into river with many drowning

Afghan officials on Sunday launched a hunt to retrieve bodies of Afghan migrants from a river in a western province after reports that Iranian border guards tortured and threw Afghans into the river to prevent their entry into Iran.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry in a statement on Saturday said an inquiry had been launched and a senior official in the presidential palace in Kabul said initial assessments suggested at least 70 Afghans who were trying to enter Iran from bordering Heart province were beaten and pushed into the Harirud river.

The Harirud river basin is shared by Afghanistan, Iran and Turkmenistan.

Doctors at Heart District Hospital said they had received the bodies of Afghan migrants, some of whom had drowned.

The Iranian consulate in Heart denied the allegations of torture and subsequent drowning of dozens of Afghan migrant workers by border police.

Read more via Reuters