Afghan refugees killed in car blaze by Iran police

The deaths of three Afghan refugees in a car fire in Iran has prompted anger towards police in the country, Reuters reported.

Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry said authorities of Iran’s Yazd Province have accepted that their police forces shot a vehicle carrying Afghan migrants, killing three.

Video footage posted on social media showed a boy escaping from the blazing car with burns to his body begging for water.

Give me some water, I am burning How can these words didn’t melted thier hearts???? #IamBurning #AfghansLivesMatter @a_siab @AnisaShaheed1 @HassanRouhani @LinaRozbih pic.twitter.com/M3TbOvL4y5

— Hina Afghan🇦🇫 (@Hina16318895) June 6, 2020

Reportedly, the ministry said the video was genuine and Afghans in Iran were trying to identify the victims.

Former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai also published a condemnation message regarding the incident.

I am deeply saddened by the car blaze that took place in Yazd, Iran, in which a number of Afghan immigrants were killed and wounded. I call on the brotherly Govt of #Iran to investigate the incident and share the results with the people of Afghanistan. l hope all will be done…

— Hamid Karzai (@KarzaiH) June 7, 2020

Afghanistan’s ambassador to Iran visited one of survivor in hospital, he was handcuffed while receiving treatment and on a ventilator.

#Afghanistan says #Iran officials have accepted that firing by their police led to the death of three refugees in a burning car. In a video, a young man with burns says "Give me a bit of water". https://t.co/3UiIFO5ZXq

— Radio Farda (@RadioFarda_Eng) June 6, 2020

Last month, Afghan officials said Iranian border guards also killed 45 Afghan migrant workers by forcing them at gunpoint into a river along the border.

Afghans have for decades escaped from war and poverty in their homeland and sought refuge in Iran.

According to Iranian Foreign Ministry, about 2.5 million Afghan migrants, both legal and undocumented, live there. Iran has at times tried to force Afghans to return to their country.

READ: Iran accused of torturing, drowning Afghan migrants