2 Iranian border guards killed in fresh clashes with Taliban

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) - At least two Iranian border guards were killed and two others injured in fierce clashes with the Taliban at a border outpost in southeastern Iran on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear what triggered the clashes, which came amid fresh tensions between the two neighboring countries over a long-running water dispute.

The incident, Iran's state media reported, happened around noon when Taliban soldiers opened fire at the Sasuli border outpost in Sistan-Baluchestan's Zabol county near the Afghan border.

The border guards of the Zabol regiment, it said, retaliated to the Taliban fire, resulting in casualties on the Afghan side as well. The figure, however, is not yet known.

The commander of the border outpost in Sasuli was killed by the Taliban last week.

Qasem Rezaei, Iran's deputy police chief, was quoted as saying by state media that the Taliban initiated the clashes, which he said was "in contravention of international law and principles of good neighborliness."

He hastened to add that Iranian border guards gave a "decisive" response after issuing "initial warnings."

After the clashes broke out, reports said, Iran's police chief Ahmadreza Radan gave directives to "defend the borders."

In a statement on Twitter, Abdul Nafi Takor, a spokesman for the Taliban's interim Interior Ministry, said Iranian border forces fired toward Afghanistan in the Nimroz province, which Taliban border forces responded to.

He added that the situation is "under control now" and that the de facto Taliban administration in Kabul "does not want to fight with its neighbors."

The spokesman confirmed that at least one person was killed on the Afghan side as well,.

- History of clashes

After the latest altercation, Iranian authorities closed the Milak-Zaranj border post, one of the main crossings for trade and commerce.

The incident came almost two months after armed clashes were reported between Iranian border guards and Taliban forces in the city of Hirmand in the Sistan-Baluchestan province.

The two neighboring countries share a largely porous 900 km (559-mile) border, which has often been a source of tension and hostility between them.

Since sweeping to power in Kabul in August 2021, the Taliban's relationship with Iran has been marked by ups and downs, with the two sides frequently engaging in border clashes.

Last July, Afghan media said one Taliban soldier was killed and one another injured when Iranian border guards clashed with Taliban forces in Hirmand.

In December 2021, barely two months after the Taliban swept into power, clashes were reported in the area between Shagalak, Iran and Nimroz, Afghanistan over a border wall that Iran was constructing at the time.