Thirteen Iranians were killed when the driver of a bus carrying elite troops fell asleep at the wheel and ploughed into a truck, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear how many of those killed in Monday's crash were members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

The police chief in the northwestern province of Zanjan said the troops had been heading back to their base after a pilgrimage to the northeastern city of Mashhad, IRNA reported. He said 19 injured people had been rushed to hospital.

Iran has one of the world's highest road accident rates.

IRNA has reported that almost 22,000 people were killed on the Islamic Republic's roads in the year that ended in March.

Iran's newspapers frequently criticise Roads and Transport Minister Ahmad Khorram over the nation's accident-plagued highways that they say are ill-maintained.

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