GWADAR: A man was killed and another injured when Iranian forces opened fire on some suspected smugglers in an Iranian border area close to Panjgur district of Pakistan.

Pakistani officials in Prom area of Panjgur district while confirming the incident said that reports reaching here suggested that Iranian forces opened fire on the people involved in the smuggling of Iranian petrol.

According to sources, there were also reports that over half a dozen people were killed and many others injured in the firing of Iranian forces, but there was no official confirmation about it.

An official in the Prom area said that the Iranian authorities had launched an operation against the people involved in the smuggling of Iranian petrol.

“We have received the body of a man and an injured from across the border,” the official said on Monday evening, adding that the injured man, who was identified as Shams, was a Pakistani national while the man whose body was brought here belonged to Iran.

He said after the firing incident the border with Iran had been closed at Haqabad area.

The injured man said that the Iranian authorities had launched the operation against the people who were involved in the smuggling of Iranian oil. “I bring oil from Iran and sell it in Panjgur,” Shams said, adding he got injured in the Iranian forces firing.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2021