At least 3 killed in clash on Iran-Afghan border

Two Iranian border guards and one Taliban fighter were killed after a shooting broke out near a border post between Iran and Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesman and Iran’s state media said on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear what had provoked the incident, in which several people were also injured, but it came amid tensions between the two countries over water rights.

Iran has accused Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers of violating a 1973 treaty by restricting the flow of water from the Helmand River to Iran’s parched eastern regions, an accusation denied by the Taliban.

“Today, in Nimroz province, Iranian border forces fired toward Afghanistan, which was met with a counter-reaction,” spokesman for the Taliban-run interior ministry, Abdul Nafi Takor, said in a statement.

“The situation is under control now. The Islamic Emirate does not want to fight with its neighbours,” the spokesman said, without identifying the victims.

He said one person had been killed on each side and several injured, though Iran’s official IRNA news agency later said two Iranian border guards had been killed and two Iranian civilians injured.

Following the clash, Iranian authorities closed the Milak-Zaranj border post, a major commercial crossing — and not the site of the clash — until further notice, IRNA said.