Pakistan condemns terror attack in Iran

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Sunday strongly condemned the terrorist attack in the Saravan county of Iran, which left six Iranian security personnel dead.

The Foreign Office  in a statement said the government and people of Pakistan express their deepest condolences to the bereaved families of the martyrs as well as to the Iranian government over this tragic incident.

She said: “As reaffirmed during the recent meeting between Prime Minister of Pakistan and the President of Iran, we stress the need for mutual efforts to eliminate terrorism on both sides of the border.

“Pakistan views the Pakistan-Iran border as a border of peace and friendship; and remains committed to working with Iran towards that end.”

Iranian media reported that the six Iranian border guards were killed on Sunday during clashes with an armed group in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Balochistan near Pakistani frontier. 

The guards were killed in Saravan, near Iran’s border with Pakistan, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website quoted local prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi as saying.

Poverty-stricken Sistan-Balochistan, which also borders Afghanistan, is a flashpoint for clashes with drug smuggling gangs as well as rebels from the Balochi minority and Sunni Muslim extremist groups.

Sunday’s attack was carried out by “a terrorist group that was seeking to infiltrate the country” but “fled across the border after the clash”, Fars news agency reported.