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Gunfire broke out on the Afghanistan-Iran border, 3 people were killed. Photos/Illustrations
KABUL – Two border guards Iran and a fighter Taliban was killed after a shootout broke out near a border post between Iran and Afghanistan. This incident escalated tensions between the two countries amid a dispute over water rights.
“Today, in Nimroz province, Iranian border troops fired towards Afghanistan, which was met with a reciprocal response,” Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor said in a statement.
“The situation is under control now. The Islamic Emirate (Afghanistan) does not want war with its neighbors,” the spokesperson said, without identifying the victims.
He said one person had been killed on each side and several injured. However, Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, later said two Iranian border guards had been killed and two Iranian civilians injured.
The semi-official English-language newspaper, the Tehran Times, reported that three Iranian border guards were killed.
The violence came as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi this month warned the Taliban not to violate a 1973 agreement to limit the flow of water from the Helmand River to eastern Iran. But Afghanistan’s rulers, the Taliban, deny the accusations.
“Unfortunately, today once again in the border area of Kong district in Nimroz province, there was shelling by Iranian soldiers, (and) conflict… broke out,” said Enayatullah Khowarazmi, a spokesman for the Taliban’s Defense Ministry.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers dialogue and negotiation as a reasonable way to solve every problem. Making excuses for wars and negative actions is not in the interest of either side,” said Khowarazmi.
Iran, in turn, accused Taliban forces of firing first.
