Illegal crossing of Azerbaijani forces to the Iranian territory provoked the incident in the border when an Azerbaijani soldier was killed, Iranian Interior Minister’s Security and Disciplinary Affairs Deputy Ali Abdollahi told IRNA news agency.

“The incidence occurred when a number of Azeri forces illegally entered the Iranian soil and did not heed the halt order of the Iranian border guards,” he told IRNA adding there have been some contacts between the sides and officials are surveying the matter.

Unintentional passage of border guards is a normal occurrence which takes place sometimes at various borders with neighboring countries, he added

“Although in such cases the border guards pass through borders incidentally and unintentionally, when they hear the halt order of the other side’s guards they heed it, and eventually the matter is solved based on the mutual understanding of the two countries’ border guards, but unfortunately in this case the border guards of the Azerbaijan Republic did not heed the halt order of their Iranian counterparts,” stressed Abdollahi.

Earlier APA news agency reported Azerbaijani chief of frontier guard was killed in a shoot-out on Sunday on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border. According to the agency, the incident broke out as armed men crossed the border from the territory of Iran.