Iranian forces kill Pakistani officials

At least four Pakistanis were killed and two injured in a shooting incident Wednesday by Iranian border guards, according to an official.

Iranian forces opened fire on a vehicle carrying six people at the Pakistan-Iran border near Mashkel in southwestern Balochistan province, Sahibzada Asfand, assistant commissioner of the town.

The dead and injured are common citizens, he said, according to initial information.

The reason for the shooting is “not known yet,” he added.

Mashkel, located 1,050 kilometers (653 miles) from the provincial capital of Quettam, is a key trade crossing between Pakistan and Iran and is also used by human traffickers to cross into Europe via Iran and Turkiye.

In January, tensions between the two neighbors heightened after Iran claimed to have struck a “terrorist hideout” in the border town of Panjgur in Balochistan prompting Islamabad to recall its ambassador from Tehran.

In less than 48 hours after Iranian airstrikes, Pakistani forces “targeted militants’ hideouts” in a village in Saravan in the Sistan-Baluchestan province.

The two nations, however, agreed to send back their ambassadors to their respective posts days later, following active diplomacy.