TEHRAN – Iran has expressed willingness for joint anti-terror operations with Pakistan after terrorists killed six Pakistani Frontier Constabulary (FC) official in an ambush near their joint border on Friday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi strongly condemned the attack on a border checkpoint in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province – the largest province of the country in terms of land.
Qassemi also expressed condolences to the Pakistani government and people as well as the families of the victims and those wounded in the terrorist attack that has become a fresh source of conflict between Islamabad and Tehran.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is fully ready to take part in any joint campaign ‘against the evil phenomenon of terrorism in all its forms and shapes in the region,’ state media reported on Sunday.
On Friday, as many as six Pakistani soldiers embraced martyrdom while 14 others were left wounded when around 30 terrorists ambushed a Frontier Constabulary (FC) convoy which was patrolling along the Pakistan-Iran border; in retaliation, four terrorists were also killed.
The separatist Pakistani group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan also lodged a strong protest with Iran on Saturday over the attack. The Iranian ambassador to Pakistan was summoned to the Foreign Office to lodge a strong protest against the tragic incident.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office of Pakistan said in a statement that the Iranian government was urged to “carry out effective operation against the terrorist group responsible for the attack on its side of the border”.
The Foreign Office also underscored the need for an effective border coordination mechanism to avoid such incidents in future, the statement read.
