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QUETTA: Pakistani authorities have closed two major border crossings with Iran for pedestrian traffic amid escalating cross-border strikes between Iran and Israel, officials in the southwestern Balochistan province said on Sunday.

The closures affect the Taftan crossing in Chaghi district and the Gabd-Rimdan crossing in Gwadar district, both key routes for cross-border movement and local trade between Balochistan and Iran. 

The Gabd-Rimdan border crossing is a point on the Iran-Pakistan border, specifically at “BP-250,” the second crossing along the 900-kilometer border between the two countries. The crossing facilitates trade and people-to-people contact between Iran and Pakistan.

“All kinds of pedestrian movement at the Gabd-Rimdan-250 border have been suspended due to the Iran-Israel conflict,” Jawad Ahmed Zehri, assistant commissioner for Gwadar, told Arab News.

Trade activity at the crossing would remain open and Pakistani citizens stranded in Iran would be allowed to return, he said, but no new entries into Iran would be permitted through this point until further notice.

In a separate order, authorities also closed the Taftan border crossing in Chaghi district for pedestrian traffic.

“We have closed pedestrian movements at the Taftan border until further notice,” said Naveed Ahmed, assistant commissioner for Taftan, adding that trade and customs operations from the crossing were continuing as usual.

The closures are expected to affect daily wage laborers, small-scale traders and local residents who depend on frequent cross-border movement for commerce, supplies and family visits.

Small items such as fruit, vegetables and household goods are commonly traded by hand or in small vehicles along these routes.

The closures come amid heightened tensions following Israeli strikes on Iranian cities since Friday with scores killed, including senior Iranian military commanders.

The bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Iran reached $2.8 billion in the last fiscal year, which ended in June. Both countries have signed a memorandum of understanding with the aim of increasing this volume to $10 billion.

Iran also supplies about 100 megawatts of electricity to border towns in Balochistan.

QUETTA: Two police officers were killed and two others injured when gunmen ambushed a police patrol in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, officials said on Sunday. 

The attack took place late on Saturday in Sui, a mountainous town about 50km from Dera Bugti city where police had rushed to respond to reports of a grenade explosion.

Jalab Khan, station house officer at Sui Police, said officers were traveling in two vehicles when they were ambushed.

“Nearly a dozen armed men were hiding behind a large rock and attacked our vehicles with heavy gunfire, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades,” Khan told Arab News.

“Two policemen were killed on the spot and two sustained bullet wounds,” he said, adding that the attackers fled under the cover of darkness.

The Baloch Republican Army (BRA), an ethnic Baloch separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The BRA has been involved in multiple attacks on security forces and gas infrastructure in Dera Bugti, one of Pakistan’s key natural gas-producing districts.

The group emerged after the killing of veteran Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti during a military operation in 2006.

Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is a mineral-rich region that is home to Beijing’s investment in the Gwadar deep water port and other projects. It is Pakistan’s largest province by size but smallest by population and the most impoverished. It has long been the site of a separatist insurgency by groups like the BRA, who are fighting for independence.

Pakistan accuses neighboring India and Afghanistan of supporting Baloch separatist militants, a claim they deny. Islamabad also says neighboring Iran does not do enough against militants operating on their shared border. 

“The slain policemen were local residents of Dera Bugti and their bodies have been handed over to families for burial,” said Atta Tareen, the district police officer for Dera Bugti.

A first information police report hasd been registered and Balochistan’s Counter Terrorism Department was leading the investigation, Tareen added.