AGENCIES/MONITORING DESK
QUETTA - The Iranian border forces Friday morning fired six mortar shells at Pakistan’s bordering town of Mashkail with no loss of life, said Pak security sources.
The Frontier Corps (FC) swiftly retaliated and fired mortar shells in response, bringing the firing from the Iranian side to an end. “The mortar shells fired by Iranian border personnel landed 3,000 metres inside Pakistani territory,” sources said.
Panic prevailed in the area owing to loud explosions that rocked the Pakistani town. More troops were called to Mashkail and surrounding areas to effectively monitor the border.
The incident came a week after Iranian border guards attacked and killed an FC soldier and injured three others in Pakistan’s Mand area.
Similarly, 30 Iranian border guards stormed inside Pakistani territory and took the residents of Nokundai, another border town, hostage.
Recent incidents prompted the two countries to hold a joint meeting in Tehran with Frontier Corps Inspector General Maj-Gen Ejaz Shahid and Iranian Guards Chief General Qasim Razai, agreeing to boost intelligence cooperation with respect to the border tension.
The two countries share a long desert border which straddles Balochistan province in southwest Pakistan and Sistan Balochistan in eastern Iran.
Last week, Pakistan said a soldier died and three were hurt by Iranian guards. Pakistan has been accused by predominantly Shia Muslim Iran of failing to stop cross-border attacks on its forces by extremist Sunni Muslim militants. Sistan Baluchistan, which also borders Afghanistan, has been the scene of frequent clashes in recent years between Iranian security forces and drug-smugglers and Sunni rebel groups.
This escalation comes at a time when Pakistan is already facing tensions with India on its eastern border. At least 17 people have died and dozens have been wounded this month as Pakistani and Indian forces traded fire on both sides of the Kashmir frontier.
But the tensions with Iran prompted Pakistan to hold a meeting in Tehran to boost intelligence cooperation, Pakistani media reports say.
Earlier this year the abduction of four Iranian soldiers also heightened regional and sectarian tensions. The guards were taken into Pakistan by Sunni militants, but eventually released.