Iran probes shooting deaths at Pakistan border

Iran is investigating an incident in which at least two Iranians were shot dead this week at the border with Pakistan, and Islamabad has handed over the body of one of the victims, Reuters reported the Iranian Foreign Ministry saying today.

Monday’s shooting of at least two people carrying fuel across the border led to protests that spread from the city of Saravan to other areas in the south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, including the capital, Zahedan.

Iran said the shooting occurred in Pakistan, but Pakistani border officials said protests broke out on the Iranian side of the frontier after Iranian forces fired at people involved in the illegal Iranian fuel trade.

A policeman was reported to have been killed in the unrest in Iran’s southeast, but a provincial security official said calm had returned with the help of religious leaders. Media quoted prominent Baluchi Sunni Muslim religious leader Molavi Abdulhamid as urging calm and calling for an independent investigation.

“The body of at least one person was delivered by Pakistan’s border guards. We are reviewing the incident,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

Protesters stormed a governor’s office in south-eastern Iran on Tuesday and set fire to a police car, according to videos posted on social media. Security forces used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the footage.

READ: Iran border fence to be complete by December: Pakistan