Iranian security kills Afghan heroin smugglers
Updated
Iranian security forces say they have killed at least 18 armed drug smugglers near the border with Afghanistan.
The men were killed near the city of Taibad, where security forces killed 12 drug traffickers and seized 500kg of heroin last week.
Iran is on the heroin smuggling route to the West from Afghanistan - the world's number one producer of the opium poppy.
Security officials in Afghanistan say resurgent Taliban militants, who have vowed to step up their campaign to expel foreign forces, profit from the trade.
Iran's government says the United States is failing to combat the growing drugs problem in Afghanistan.
