TEHRAN: Clashes broke out on Sunday between Iranian border guards and Taliban forces, officials said, with the Afghan side confirming the killing of one of their border officers.

Both sides accused the other of opening fire first.

“There was a clash between the border guards of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Taliban forces,” Meysam Barazandeh, governor of Iran’s Hirmand county, was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency. “The conflict was brief and has ended,” he added.

Fars reported that clashes took

place on the Iranian side of the border, in the Shaghalak area of Hirmand county, in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.

Both sides accuse each other of opening fire first

“A border violation by the Taliban took place today,” Barazandeh said, adding that “our forces gave the necessary response”, and that there “were no casualties” on the Iranian side.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency said Taliban forces shot at some houses in the town of Dust Mohammad, which was followed by an exchange of fire “for several minutes”.

A statement issued by Afghanistan’s Nimroz provincial information centre blamed Iranian border guards for the incident.

“Iranian border forces fired at a patrol of our border forces in Kang district of Nimroz province,” the statement said.

“After that they (Iranian forces) fired in the area with light and heavy weapons. In this shooting, one of our border force personnel was martyred and another injured,” it added.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2022