IRAN: Iranian border guards clashed Sunday with the Afghan Taliban, the latest cross-border exchange since the former insurgents seized power in neighboring Afghanistan a year ago, Iranian media reported.
Meisam Barazandeh, the governor of the eastern Iranian border region of Hirmand, was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying that the incident is still being looked into. He made no mention of the fight's specifics or any casualties. The Taliban did not respond right away.
Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said the Taliban opened fire on houses on the eastern edge of the county, in the area of Shoqalak, across the border from Afghanistan's Nimruz province. According to the report, Taliban fighters attempted to hoist the Taliban flag over a region that is not a part of Afghan territory. After an altercation, tranquilly was restored.
The Taliban initially opened fire on Iranian guards, forcing them to retaliate until the exchange decreased and the Iranian guards brought the situation under control, Tasnim later quoted Majid Mirahmadi, the country's deputy interior minister, as saying.
The discussion finished early on Sunday afternoon after lasting an hour and a half. A similar altercation occurred on Saturday, according to Mirahmadi, since the Taliban do not respect the "geographical and official border" between the two nations.
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last August, clashes have frequently broken out between Iranian security personnel and Afghan Taliban troops in a number of locations along the border. The gunfights, which frequently involve local issues like disputes over farmland, water, or smuggling, are usually short-lived.
The Afghan Taliban briefly took control of numerous checkpoints on the Iranian side during some of the heaviest fighting last December, but they quickly gave them back. Both sides afterwards described the occurrence as a "misunderstanding."
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