(Reuters) - Several coast guards were injured in southern Iran when a crowd angered by the shooting death of an alleged fuel smuggler attacked their post, an Iranian news agency said on Saturday.

The victim was killed on Friday in clashes with coast guards pursuing smugglers in the Gulf waters of Sirik, the semi-official Fars agency said.

It quoted Hossein Dehaki, head of the southern Hormozgan province coast guard, as saying that a crowd later attacked a coast guard post in the Kouhestak district, injuring several guards.

The incident took place about two weeks after the shooting death of at least two people carrying fuel across the Iranian border into Pakistan, triggering protests that spread from the border city of Saravan to other areas in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.

According to the United Nations, up to 23 people may have been killed during the protests by Revolutionary Guards and security forces.

Iran has some of the lowest fuel prices in the world and has been fighting smuggling to neighbouring countries.