Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday pressed his legal battle before a court in the capital, Islamabad, which granted him protection from arrest until early next month in several cases including terrorism charges for inciting violence.

The development comes as authorities have been cracking down on the supporters of Khan, now Pakistan’s top opposition leader. Thousands staged violent protests and attacked public property and military installations following Khan’s arrest earlier this month.

Five Iranian border guards were killed in a clash with an unknown armed group trying to enter the country near the Pakistani border, state TV reported Sunday.

The fighting happened in the town of Saravan in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, some 1,360 kilometers (850 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran. The report said the militants fled the area with casualties, but did not elaborate.