Iranian forces also suffered casualties, including two senior intelligence commanders…reports Asian Lite News
Iranian government closed the Gabd-Rimdan border with Pakistan following deadly clashes between Iran’s security forces and its Baloch people in Zahedan, the capital of Iran’s Sistan and Balochistan Province, media reports said.
The border demarcates Gabd in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Rimdan from Iran’s Sistan province. Citing official sources, the Dawn reported that Iran had closed the crossing point after armed clashes between its security forces and Iranian Baloch people in Zahedan, where “hundreds of people were killed and several others injured.”
“The Gabd crossing gate was closed for an indefinite period for pilgrims and trade,” Iranian officials said, reported Dawn.
At least 63 people were killed last week when Iranian security forces “bloodily suppressed” a protest in the city of Zahedan, as per an Abu Dhabi-based news portal The National News Quoting Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO.
Iranian forces also suffered casualties, including two senior intelligence commanders.
According to the rights group, the clashes started after reports of a police chief in the port city of Chabahar (in Sistan and Baluchestan province) alleged raping a 15-year-old girl.
After the news spread, deadly clashes broke out in Zahedan, the capital of the province, which is home to the Baluch ethnic minority that largely adheres to Sunni Islam in predominantly Shiite Iran, reports added.
The incident comes in the backdrop of nationwide demonstrations after the death of Mahsa Amini by Morality police. “On September 30, people gathered after Friday prayer in Zahedan to protest against the rape of a Baluch 15-year-old girl by Chabahar’s police chief, which was bloodily suppressed by security forces,” IHR said on Tuesday, raising a previous toll of 41.
2 Pak soldiers, 7 militants killed
Two Pakistani soldiers, including seven militants, were killed in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the militants fired at a military convoy.
There were two separate incidents in the Hassan Khel and Tank areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the militant fire on the convoy that transpired in the Hassan Khel area, the media wing’s Tuesday statement read that the Pakistani soldiers retaliated killing three militants.
The troops also recovered weapons and ammunition from them, reported Dawn.
During the intense exchange of fire, a Pakistani soldier Muhammad Pannah of Pak Army, 30, resident of Jaffarabad District, and Frontier Constabulary’s Sepoy Shamas Ullah, 36, resident of South Waziristan District, were killed.
Meanwhile, security troops after tracking down the movement of the militants Tank area, engaged in a combat and killed four terrorists during an intense exchange of fire. Here too, the Pakistani army recovered weapons and ammunition from them.
The militants were involved in target killings, kidnappings and extortion in the area, Dawn reported quoting the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Tuesday statement.
September witnessed 42 militant attacks with an increase of 35 per cent compared to August. The Pakistani think tank “Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies ” also observed an increase of 106 per cent in violence in erstwhile Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
“In September, the militants carried out 42 attacks in which 40 people were killed, including 24 security forces personnel, and 77 people were injured, including 19 security forces personnel. Overall 60pc of the deaths were from the security forces which showed that they were the prime target of the militants,” the PICSS stated. (ANI)
