State TV said an armed group killed 5 Iranian border guards in a clash near the Pakistani border

TEHRAN, Iran — Five Iranian border guards were killed in a clash with an unknown armed group near the border with Pakistan, state TV reported on Sunday.

The fighting took place in the city of Saravan in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, about 1,360 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tehran. According to the report, the militants fled the area with casualties, but did not elaborate.

State TV initially reported that six guards were killed, but later said that five had died. Two border guards were also injured in the clash. No group was blamed for the attack, and no group immediately claimed responsibility. There were no further details.

The area is one of the least developed parts of Iran. Relations between the region’s predominantly Sunni population and Iran’s Shiite theocracy have long been tumultuous.

The top leaders of Pakistan and Iran inaugurated the first border market on Thursday, as ties between the two countries warmed.

Located in the remote village of Pashin in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, the market is the first of six to be built along the Pakistan-Iran border under a 2012 agreement signed by the two sides.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi have also inaugurated an electrical transmission line that will supply some remote regions of Pakistan with Iranian electricity.