The incident took place two days ago when the border guards discovered that a group of people carrying packages tried to enter into the red zone in Baneh, Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

The guards fired several warning shots but failed to deter the group from crossing the district, al-Mahdi said.

Given the sensitivity of the region and a record of security threats there, the Iranian border guards opened fire on the group in a bid to prevent possible future anti-security attacks, he said.

He gave no details on the identities of the two victims in the shooting incident.

Iranian border guards are struggling to prevent smuggling into the country in border areas, particularly the Kurdish region.