Iranian guards fire shells into Pakistan

QUETTA: Iranian border guards on Monday fired a barrage of mortar shells into a border region of Balochistan, leaving four people wounded. The pre-dawn shelling came hours after three soldiers of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed in an attack by ‘armed bandits’ in the southeast of Iran near the Pakistan border, according to Iranian media reports.

“At least 42 mortar shells fired from Iranian side landed in Balochistan’s Zamuran area where transporters were present,” an official of the Turbat Levies told The Express Tribune. “As a result, at least four Pakistani transporters or drivers sustained minor injuries.”

The shelling came hours after three Iranian troops were killed in an attack in its border province. “Armed bandits killed the IRGC members late Sunday near the city of Saravan in the Sistan-Baluchestan province,” according to a statement carried by Iran’s Fars news agency.

Official sources in Pakistan confirmed the attack on Iranian troops and described Monday’s shelling as retaliatory action against the attackers who had tried to flee to the Pakistani side of border.

A few days ago, Iranian border guards shot and injured two Pakistani citizens in Panjgur. Security on the Pak-Iran border has been beefed up following the latest incident.

There have been frequent deadly attacks on Iranian forces near the border.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2014.