KARACHI: At least three people were killed and several others injured after security forces opened fire on protesters who attacked the office of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and a quarantine center at the Chaman crossing-point at the Pak-Afghan border, a senior government official said on Thursday.

“We are investigating the incident, which occurred after a few miscreants provoked the protesters who wanted to go to Afghanistan,” Zia Ullah Langove, home minister Balochistan, told reporters in Quetta.

The protesters were demonstrating against the closure of Chaman border, he said.

The minister added that the angry demonstrators wanted to cross the border. When the authorities refused, however, they attacked the NADRA office and set the quarantine center along the Chaman border ablaze.

Langove said that the security forces first restored to aerial firing, but the situation deteriorated because of some miscreants. “The forces should have not opened straight fire on the protesters,” he said.

The minister, while mentioning the border skirmishes following the incident, said that Pakistan would give a befitting response in case of any action from across the border.

According to a list shared by Civil Hospital Chaman, three people, including an unidentified woman, lost their lives in the incident while tens of others received gunshot wounds.