Asia

Pakistan Begins Fencing Border With Iran - Commander

Earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran and Pakistan will form "a joint rapid reaction force to fight terrorism inside their borders".
Sputnik

The border fencing project with Iran has started and will be completed within 3 to 4 years according to estimates, Pakistani border force commander Moazzam Jah Ansari said speaking at the Upper House of Parliament, according to the Mehr News Agency.

Security forces earlier launched an offensive against terrorists' hideouts near the border with Iran, targeted at clearing the border from armed militants, while intelligence-based operations have been conducted in recent weeks, Moazzam Jah Ansari added.

READ MORE: Pakistani PM Imran Khan Pays First Official Visit to Iran (PHOTOS)

PM Khan’s First Iran Visit Confirmed Amid Pakistan’s Bonding With Saudi Arabia
He went on to say that Iran is resisting fencing the border.

The announcement follows tensions over a terror attack that claimed the lives of 27 people and injured 13 more in February, when an individual in an explosive-laden vehicle targeted a bus carrying a number of IRGC personnel in the Sistan and Baluchistan provinces of southeastern Iran.

In February, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Pakistani Ambassador to the Islamic Republic Riffat Masood to lodge a protest over the terror attack that targeted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel.

READ MORE: Iran's Revolutionary Guards Accuses Pakistani of Suicide Attack on Its Troops

Tehran also asked Islamabad to take urgent measures to find and detain terrorists operating in the area near the site of the attack.

Pakistan, for its part, condemned the suicide attack and noted that it was cooperating in the probe.

Discuss