Pakistani authorities have yet to decide what to do with three Iranian border guards who they say crossed into southwestern Pakistan while chasing after smugglers and killed one of them, a private TV channel reported on Monday, as Iran closed its border with Pakistan over the incident.
The incident occurred on Sunday in the Mazah Sar area of Balochistan, where the border is often not clearly marked. Aalam Farez, a senior government official in Washuk district, where Mazah Sar is located, told the TV channel that the Iranians admitted to inadvertently crossing into Pakistan. But, he said, they claimed the two people they shot, one of whom died, were bystanders and that the people they were chasing escaped.
After the shooting, Pakistani border personnel chased the Iranians back across the border and detained them, Pakistani officials said. They also seized the surviving gunshot victim and determined both of those who had been shot were petty smugglers.