Iran fires 5 mortar shells into Pakistan

QUETTA: At least five mortar shells were fired into Taftan, Balochistan from the Iranian border on Sunday.

No casualties were reported.  All the mortar shells landed in a barren land far away from the population.

Confirming the incident, Taftan Assistant Commissioner Zafar Kubdani said, “Five mortar shells were fired from the Iranian side between pillars 104 and 106. Luckily, no casualties occurred.”



Levies personnel visited the site where the shells had landed and despatched a report to the Chagai deputy commissioner.

Pakistan and Iran share a 900-kilometre-long porous border. Both the two countries had decided in 2014 to boost intelligence coordination to wipe out terrorists from the border region.

The Pakistan Gate at Taftan in Chagai district was completed in 2016.



The ties between the two neighbouring countries came under pressure after 10 Iranian border guards were killed in Mirjaveh, Sistan-Baluchistan province by a militant group Jaish al-Adl.

Iranian police had said its guards were killed by long-range guns and had called on Islamabad to take responsibility for the attack.

To diffuse the tension between the two neighbours, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had met Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on May 3 in Islamabad for talks.

Both sides had agreed to strengthen coordination and security along the border.