TEHRAN, Dec 19: Iran’s government said on Monday that a member of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s personal security team has been killed in a shoot-out with bandits but implicitly denied rumours of an assassination attempt.

Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said four people died in the incident in the unruly southeastern province, a major thoroughfare for narcotics smugglers with frequent insecurity problems.

Sources in the president’s office said the motivation for the attack appeared to be car theft — a common problem in the area — and that Ahmadinejad was some 300kms away from where the incident occurred.

The Dec 15 incident coincided with a visit to the province by the Mr Ahmadinejad — sparking rumours and reports in some foreign media that the president himself was targeted.

“Bandits attacked some of our brothers in the Revolutionary Guards, who had finished their mission and were returning on the road from Saravan to Chahbahar,” Elham explained.

A unit of the Revolutionary Guards is detached to provide security for the president during provincial tours.—AFP