QUETTA: Iranian forces fired mortar shells into Taslap, a border town in Chagai district, and nearby areas on Friday, killing an unspecified number of cows and camels.

“They fired over two dozen mortar shells, causing panic in the villages,” a security official told Dawn.

“Camels and cattle grazing in the fields were killed as mortar shells hit them,” the official said.

Before the shelling, the Iranians warned people working in the fields on the Pakistan side to leave the area.

“People had no option but to leave their fields and take shelter in their houses,” Khuda-i-Nazar, a villager, said.

The shelling stopped only after contingents of the Frontier Corps and Levies were dispatched to the town.

According to Sardarzada Umir Muhammad Hasni, a tribal elder, the border areas of Chagai and Makran districts had seen an alarming rise in mortar shelling and rocket fire over the past few months.

A large number of families have already left their villages for safe places.

Sardarzada Hasni called upon the federal government to take up the matter with the government of Iran.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2018