Iran Kills 9 Pakistanis Near Border Days After Tip-For-Tat Attacks

(CTN News) – 9 people were slain in southern Iran by gunmen. They were identified as Pakistanis by Islamabad’s envoy on Saturday, according to Iranian media.

The two neighbouring nations have been trying to defuse tensions after fatal cross-border gunfire. This morning, “according to witnesses, unknown armed men killed nine non-Iranians in a house in the Sirkan neighbourhood of Saravan city” in Sistan-Baluchistan province, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.

The news agency also noted that no organisation has taken credit as of yet. Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, the Pakistani ambassador to Tehran, posted on X (previously Twitter) that he was “deeply shocked by the horrifying killing of nine Pakistanis in Saravan.” Bereaved families may be certain that the embassy will provide full assistance. We urged Iran to fully cooperate with us on this.

Speaking on behalf of Pakistan’s foreign minister, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch called the assault “horrifying and despicable” and urged Iranian authorities to “investigate the incident and hold to account those involved in this heinous crime.”

“Such cowardly attacks cannot deter Pakistan from its determination to fight terrorism,” she said, emphasising that the Pakistani embassy in Iran “will do its best to repatriate dead bodies at the earliest.”

The brutal assault, which came after unusual military activity in the porous border province of Baluchistan, split between the two countries, added to the already high regional tensions caused by the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Jihadists, Baluchi rebels, and transnational drug gangs have long plagued the primarily Sunni Muslim region of Sistan-Baluchistan in Iran. Pakistani planes attacked Iranian “militant targets” on January 18, only two days after Iran attacked Pakistani soil.

This jihadist organisation, Jaish al-Adl, has been banned by Iran as a “terrorist” outfit and has been responsible for a series of fatal strikes in Iran in the last few months. Tehran claimed responsibility for targeting this group.

After Pakistan claimed that two children had been killed in the Iranian attacks, Islamabad reprimanded Tehran severely, recalling its ambassador and barring Iran’s envoy from returning to Islamabad.

In light of the Pakistani attacks that resulted in the loss of nine lives, Tehran has also summoned Islamabad’s charge d’affaires. On the other hand, last Monday, the two nations announced their decision to de-escalate, and their ambassadors returned to their positions.

According to the Iranian presidency’s website, the Pakistani ambassador formally handed his credentials to President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran on Saturday in Tehran.

Raisi told the Pakistani ambassador, “Borders are an opportunity for economic exchanges and improving the security of neighbours, and it is necessary to protect this opportunity against any element of insecurity.”

These remarks came during their meeting. Officially referring to the two nations as “brothers” and their relationship as “unbreakable,” the president of Iran made the compliments.

Gunmen in Iran kill nine Pakistanis days after tit-for-tat strikes.

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