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Pakistan begins fencing border with Iran: Commander

This picture taken on April 21, 2019 shows Iranian border security officials (L) shake hands with Pakistani border security officials at Zero Point in the Pakistan-Iran border town of Taftan. (Photo by AFP)

The Pakistani border force commander ​​​says the country has started fencing its 950-kilometer-long shared border with Iran in an effort to strengthen security in the area.

Moazzam Jah Ansari told the country’s Upper House of Parliament on Friday that the project to fence the border linking Pakistan's Balochistan Province with Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan Province will be completed within three to four years.

He further said that Pakistani security forces had recently launched a military operation in Balochistan near the Iranian border which led to the killing of 15 militants.

Iran and Pakistan have stepped up their efforts to boost security along their common border following recent attacks on Iranian border guards by terrorists based in Pakistan.

Last month, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Islamabad had already taken “six steps” to ensure stability along the Iran border as part of a project dubbed the “border of peace”

The top Pakistani diplomat also noted that a project to fence the common border had already kicked off from the points frequently exploited by terrorist groups.

During a visit by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to Tehran in April, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the two countries agreed to establish a joint "rapid reaction force" on the shared borders to fight terrorism.”

Iran had in the past urged Pakistan to address the issue of border security, even offering to launch a joint military and intelligence operation to locate and eliminate terrorists based in the Pakistani territories.

In their latest attack, Pakistan-based terrorists killed over 40 members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) by ramming an explosive-laden car into their bus in southeastern Iran in February.

The Pakistani army has launched a massive attack on the terrorist hideouts along the border with Iran aimed at clearing the border from armed bandits.

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s security forces killed five terrorists in two separate operations in Khuzdar and Turbat areas of Pakistani Province of Balochistan near the Iranian border.


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