Iran: Dozens of Fuel Traders Killed & Wounded at Border

Dozens of fuel sellers were shot dead and wounded at the Pakistan-Iran border in Sistan-Baluchistan/Saravan on Monday February 22, 2021.
At least ten were killed and several others were injured in Iranian Baluchistan.

Eyewitnesses who talked with SunniOnline said that when oil traders arrived at the Pakistan-Iran border, they saw the road which had been closed by digging a trench apparently by the security forces. They tried to find a way to cross the border peacefully, but their negotiations with the forces failed. As a group of drivers tried to go forward anyway, the frontier forces opened fire on them for several hours.

At least ten people were killed in the incident. Eyewitnesses have seen at least nine corpses in the hospital of Saravan.

The deputy governor of Sistan-Baluchestan claimed that Pakistani troops first shot and killed one person, and later when protesters tried to move towards the base, Iranian soldiers were forced to open fire that caused killing of at least another person.

It should be mentioned that due to unemployment and worst economic conditions, thousands of people in Iranian Baluchistan make a living by selling oil.

On daily basis, some of oil-loader vehicles are destroyed in road accidents and some drivers die as a result of shootings by security forces.

Sistan-Balochistan, the second largest province of Iran is the poorest province of Iran as the official census suggest.

According to the latest reports, a group of people angrily attacked the office of the district governor of Saravan yesterday. Protesters later set fire to at least two police vehicles. The situation in Saravan is still tense.

Shaikh Abdol-Hamid, the most influential Sunni leader of Iran issued a statement and strongly condemned the shooting incident.

President of the Darululoom Zahedan called the attack against the Islamic and national laws and called on the authorities to punish the perpetrators.
A number of Baloch scholars, academics and writers have issued different statements denouncing the incident and expressing their sympathy with the families of the martyrs and with the people of Sistan-Baluchistan.