Unidentified Iranian gunmen killed nine Pakistani nationals along the Iran-Pakistan border, severely exacerbating already strained relations between the two nations. The development transpired more than a week after the neighbours exchanged deadly cross-border fire. Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran, Mudassir Tipu also confirmed the incident on social media and wrote, “Deeply shocked by the horrifying killing of 9 Pakistanis in Saravan. The embassy will extend full support to bereaved families. Counsel Zahidan is already on his way to the incident site & hospital where the injured are under treatment. We called upon Iran to extend full cooperation in the matter.”
The Mehr news agency in Sistan-Baluchistan province reported, “According to witnesses, this morning unknown armed men killed nine non-Iranians in a house in the Sirkan neighbourhood of Saravan city.” According to it, no group or individual has taken responsibility for the assault so far. Baluch rights group Haalvash proclaimed that the victims were labourers from Pakistan who resided at the car repair business where they were employed. It claimed three more people were wounded.
Sistan-Baluchistan is one of the few provinces in Shiite-dominated Iran that is primarily Sunni Muslim. The shootings took place as Iranian state media reported that the ambassadors of Iran and Pakistan had resumed their posts following their recall following last week’s missile exchange between the two nations that struck what they purported to be militant targets.
Conflicts between security forces and separatist militants as well as smugglers transporting opium from Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer of the drug, have long occurred in the impoverished region. Iran has among of the lowest gasoline prices in the world, which has encouraged the smuggling of petroleum into Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Notably, the lethal strike comes after infrequent military activity in the disputed border province of Baluchistan, which is divided between the two countries, which aggravated regional tensions already heightened by the conflict between Israel and Hamas. On 18th January, Pakistan launched air strikes on “militant targets” in Iran, two days after the latter had conducted strikes on its territory.
Tehran declared that it had aimed Jaish al-Adl, a jihadist outfit that has killed numerous people in terror assaults in Iran in recent months. Iran has placed the 2012-founded alleged non-governmental organisation (NGO) on a blacklist as a “terrorist” group. Islamabad reacted sharply to the Iranian strikes and recalled its ambassador from Tehran as well as expelled Iran’s envoy. Tehran also summoned Islamabad’s charge d’affaires over Pakistan’s strikes, which left at least nine people dead.