ISLAMABAD – Bodies of the nine Pakistanis killed by unidentified gunmen in a border area of Iran last week have been airlifted to Pakistan, the foreign office said on Wednesday.
The Pakistanis were labourers who lived at an auto repair shop where they worked. No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, which occurred in Saravan in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province on Saturday. The tragic incident took place ahead of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian’s planned visit to Pakistan on Monday.
Iran and Pakistan have been trying to mend ties since both countries traded missile strikes aimed at what they said were militant targets inside each other’s territory earlier this month.
“The mortal remains of nine Pakistani nationals, who were killed in a terrorist attack in Sistan-Baluchestan Province of Iran on 27 January 2024, are being airlifted today from Taftan border to [Pakistani city of ] Multan,” the foreign ministry’s spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones.”
During his visit to Pakistan on Monday, Iranian FM Abdollahian said militants harboring along a shared border with Pakistan were supported by “third countries,” but would be defeated through “joint cooperation.”
Pakistan has long accused rivals and neighboring Afghanistan and India of stoking unrest in its southwestern Balochistan province that borders Iran. Both deny the charge. Islamabad and Tehran have also frequently exchanged accusations of turning a blind eye to militants harboring along their shared border.
