Quetta: In a development that threatens the relationship between Pakistan and Iran, Iranian border guards opened fire at a vehicle carrying a group of Pakistanis along the border in the Washuk district of Balochistan province, resulting in four deaths and two others being injured, according to officials. Government administrator Sahibzada Asfand said it was unclear why the Iranian forces opened fire.
Local police said the incident happened near the border village of Mashkel in Baluchistan province on Wednesday. The bodies of the four men killed by Iranian fire in Balochistan have been handed over to their families. There was no immediate response either from the Iranian government nor Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.
“Iranian forces opened fire inside Pakistani border,” a senior official of the Mashkel administration said, adding that the victims were sitting in the Pakistani border area when the Iranian forces opened fire, according to Dawn. An official posted at the border said the Pakistani nationals killed or injured were involved in the supply of Iranian smuggled oil.
