Unidentified gunmen killed nine people in southeastern Iran on Saturday, Iranian media reported, with Islamabad’s ambassador identifying them as Pakistanis, as the neighbouring countries sought to ease tensions after the recent deadly cross-border strikes.
Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that "according to witnesses, this morning unidentified armed men killed nine non-Iranians in a house in the Sirkan neighbourhood of Saravan city" in the Sistan-Baluchistan province.
So far, no group claimed responsibility, the news agency added.
The province's Deputy Governor, Alireza Marhamati, told official news agency IRNA that according to survivors of the incident, "three armed people shot at the foreigners after entering their residence and fled the scene".
Marhamati confirmed the toll of nine deaths, saying three others were wounded. The Pakistani Ambassador to Tehran, Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, said on X, he was "deeply shocked by the horrifying killing of nine Pakistanis in Saravan".
"Embassy will extend full support to the bereaved families ... we called upon Iran to extend full cooperation in the matter."
Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch condemned the attack as "horrifying and despicable", asking the Iranian authorities to "investigate the incident and hold to account those who are involved in this heinous crime".
Deeply shocked by horrifying killing of 9 Pakistanis in Saravan. Embassy will extend full support to bereaved families. Counsel Zahidan is already on his way to incident site & hospital where injured are under treatment.We called upon 🇮🇷 to extend full cooperation in the matter.
— Ambassador Mudassir (@AmbMudassir) January 27, 2024
She stressed that the Pakistani embassy in Iran "will do its best to repatriate the dead bodies at the earliest", adding that "such cowardly attacks cannot deter Pakistan from its determination to fight terrorism".
Two of the victims, who have been identified so far, were labourers hailing from Pakistan's Lodhran area as stated by their family members, while five, including two brothers, belonged to Alipur tehsil of Punjab's Muzaffargarh district.
Mohammad Iqbal, a resident of Galewal, a suburb of Lodhran, and his cousin Mohsin, told the media that for the past several years, their brother Zubair and nephew Abu Bakar, who were unmarried, used to cross the border of Iran without a visa to Sirkan region for labour. The family members of the victims said they used to paint the dents of the tanker tanks carrying Iranian oil to Pakistan.
Greatly honoured to present credentials to HE Ebrahim Raisi, President of🇮🇷 in an exclusive ceremony gracefully held at Presidency today. HE Raisi desired to solidify ties with🇵🇰.I reiterated Pakistan's commitment to elevate 🇵🇰🇮🇷 ties to new heights building stronger foundations.
— Ambassador Mudassir (@AmbMudassir) January 27, 2024
Last night at around half past one, they said, two armed men entered their quarters and gathered 12 residents of Lodhran, Ahmedpur Sharkia and Alipur – who were sleeping in different rooms – in one room, adding that they opened fire at them, killing nine and seriously injuring three .
The Iranian police reached the spot and shifted the dead and the injured to the Sarawan hospital.
They demanded of the government to bring the bodies of their brother and nephew to their home.
Further, the relatives of the deceased protested in front of the Alipur assistant commissioner’s office, demanding that the bodies of their loved ones be brought from Iran to Pakistan immediately.
Also read: Pak-Iran diplomatic ties officially restored
The deadly attack follows rare military action in the porous border region of Balochistan – split between the two nations – that had stoked regional tensions already inflamed by the Israel-Hamas war.
Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province has seen persistent unrest involving cross-border drug-smuggling gangs and rebels from the Baluch ethnic minority, as well as jihadists.
On Jan 18, Pakistan launched air strikes on "militant targets" in Iran, two days after Iran had launched strikes on its territory.
Tehran said it had targeted Jaish al-Adl, a jihadist group which has carried out a spate of deadly attacks in Iran in recent months and blacklisted by Iran as a "terrorist" organisation.
The Iranian strikes, which Pakistan said killed at least two children, drew a sharp rebuke from Islamabad, which recalled its ambassador from Tehran and blocked Iran's envoy from returning to Islamabad.
Tehran also summoned Islamabad's charge d'affaires over Pakistan's strikes, which left at least nine people dead.
The two countries, however, announced last Monday that they had decided to de-escalate and resumed diplomatic missions with the two ambassadors returning to their posts.
The Pakistani ambassador on Saturday presented his credentials to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran, the presidency website reported.
"The Iran-Pakistan border creates an opportunity for economic exchanges... and must be protected against any insecurity," Raisi said during the meeting with the Pakistani envoy.
The Iranian president called the two countries "brothers" and described their relations as "unbreakable". Agencies
(With additional input from our Lodhran correspondent)
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