TEHRAN, Oct 12: Two people were hurt as police tried to stop a crowd of mainly Afghan refugees from attacking the Pakistan consulate in the southwestern Iranian town of Zahedan on Friday, an official said.

The crowd was protesting Pakistan’s support for the US strikes on Afghanistan.

Gholamreza Javedan, a top security official in Sistan-Baluchestan, said about 1,500 Afghan refugees backed by some native Iranian Baluchs had tried to overrun the consulate in Zahedan, near the Pakistan border, but had been pushed back by the police and Islamic militia.

“The protesters planned to attack the consulate in two stages, but we intervened at the right time and brought the situation under control,” he said.

The official said two people had been slightly hurt as security forces dispersed the crowd, who emerged from a peaceful anti-war protest after Friday prayers in Zahedan.

Witnesses said a crowd had attacked the Pakistan consulate with stones and clubs, breaking windows, before police brought them under control.—Reuters