News Desk
AFP
TEHRAN: Unidentified gunmen on Saturday in southeastern Iran near the Pakistan border killed nine foreign nationals, said to be Pakistanis, more than a week after the neighbours exchanged deadly cross-border fire.
“Witnesses said this morning unknown gunmen killed nine non-Iranians in a house in the Sirkan neighbourhood of Saravan city” in Sistan-Baluchistan province, the Iranian news agency reported.
So far, no group or individuals had claimed responsibility, the agency added.
According to the information available with ARY News, among the victims, five hailed from different areas of Alipur in Punjab province and had been working in Iran for the past decade.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Pakistan’s Ambassador to Iran condemned the “horrifying killings” and called upon Iran to extend full cooperation with Pakistani authorities on the matter.
“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 [and] hospital where injured are under treatment. We called upon [Iran] to extend full cooperation in the matter,” the ambassador noted.
The development came a day after Mudassir arrived in Tehran while his Iranian counterpart landed in Islamabad, signalling the full restoration of diplomatic relations between the two neighbouring countries following deadly cross-border attacks.
On January 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.
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 that they had decided to de-escalate and resumed diplomatic missions with the two ambassadors returning to their posts.
“As per understanding between the two countries, Ambassador of Pakistan Muhammad Muddasir Tipu arrived in Tehran today while the Iranian Ambassador of Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam arrived in Islamabad,” the FO spokesperson said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
