Border violations: Iranian border guards fires eight mortar shells

Senior official of Balochistan government confirms that Iranian border guards have violated the Pakistani frontiers

QUETTA:

Iranian border guards have fired eight mortar shells into Pakistani territory in Panjgur, the western part of Balochistan, on Saturday.

A senior official of Balochistan government confirmed that Iranian border guards have violated the Pakistani frontiers. “Eight mortars landed and exploded at a desolate place in Panjgur. However, no loss of life was reported in the attack,” he said.

According to local people the back-to-back explosions occurred in Nukar area of Panjgur. “These mortars were fired from the other side of the border from Iranian Baluchistan,” a resident of the area said. A few months ago, Iranian border guards had killed two people in Panjgur after a border violation.

However, no formal protest was lodged in this regard, local residents complained.

It was not the first border violation by Iranian border guards as the areas like Panjgur, Mand, Washuk and Chagai on several instances have witnessed mortar shelling by the Iranian security forces.

Pakistan had raised the issue with the Iranian government but Tehran categorically stated that it would target terrorists trying to disturb peace in Iran whether they are in Iran or Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2015.