FO condemns terrorist attack on Iran guards

ISLAMABAD:

The Foreign Office expressed “deepest condolences” on Sunday to the Iranian government as well as the families of five deceased border guards, who were killed during clashes with an armed group in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.

The Foreign Office said in a statement that Islamabad viewed Pakistan- Iran border as a border of peace and friendship and was committed to working with Iran towards that end.

“As reaffirmed during the recent meeting between the prime minister of Pakistan and the president of Iran, we stress upon the need for mutual efforts to eliminate terrorism on both sides of the border,” the statement said.

Iran’s state media reported that five border guards were killed during clashes in Saravan, near the border with Pakistan. The official IRNA news agency said that Sunday’s attack was carried out by “a terrorist group that was seeking to infiltrate the country” but whose members “fled the scene after suffering injuries”.

The judiciary’s Mizan Online website had quoted local prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi as saying that six guards were killed but later the number was revised down to five. In Tehran, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani condemned the attack.

He said Tehran expected of Islamabad to “crack down on terrorist groups” and “try to improve the security” of the borders. “Certainly, the aim of these terrorist groups is to disrupt the security of the common borders and the security of the people living on the borders of the two countries,” Kanani added.

The attack was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months. On March 11, two policemen were shot dead during clashes with “criminals” in the same region, IRNA reported at the time.

(WITH INPUT FROM AFP)