Nine Pakistani labourers shot dead in Iran

ISLAMABAD: Unidentified gunmen killed nine Pakistani workers in a border area of Iran on Saturday, amid efforts by the two countries to mend ties after tit-for-tat attacks.

“Deeply shocked by horrifying killing of 9 Pakistanis in Saravan. Embassy will extend full support to bereaved families,” the Pakistani Ambassador to Tehran, Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, said on the X platform. “We call upon Iran to extend full cooperation in the matter.”

In the tweet, he said an official was also sent to visit the site of the incident and the hospital where the “injured” were being treated.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani expressed grief over the gun attack, which he said was a “bid to ruin Pak-Iran ties”.

Demanding the Iranian government to take action against the elements responsible for the attack, he also extended condolences to the victims’ families.

The Baloch rights group Haalvash said on its website that the victims were Pakistani labourers, who lived at an auto repair shop where they worked. Three others were wounded, it said.

Iran’s state media identified the dead only as foreign nationals and said no individuals or groups had claimed responsibility for the shootings in Saravan in Sistan-Baluchistan province.

“It is a horrifying and despicable incident and we condemn it unequivocally,” Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said. “We are in touch with Iranian authorities and have underscored the need to immediately investigate the incident and hold to account those involved.”

Baloch added that the embassy would do its best to repatriate bodies at the earliest.

“Such cowardly attacks cannot deter Pakistan from its determination to fight terrorism,” she said.

The shooting occurred ahead of a planned visit on Monday to Pakistan by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.

“The Iran-Pakistan border creates an opportunity for economic exchanges... and must be protected against any insecurity,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told Mudassir Tipu as he received the ambassador’s credentials on Saturday, state media reported.

Two of the victims, who have been identified so far, were labourers hailing from Pakistan’s Lodhran area as stated by their family, while five including two brothers belonged to Tehsil Alipur of Punjab’s district Muzaffargarh.

“Zubair and his nephew had gone to Iran for labour,” according to the family sources.

Meanwhile, the families from Alipur reached out to the tehsil’s assistant commissioner and demanded help for bringing back victims’ mortal remains.

A friend of one of the victims said the incident took place in the wee hours of Saturday, around 2:30am. He said three people were injured in the shooting.

Bureau office adds from Multan: Activists of a local group Saturday staged a protest against the killing of workers in Iran and demanded the government compensate the deceased families financially, as their families were dependent on them.

A representative of the group, Zahoor Dhreeja, said unabated killing of south Punjab workers in Waziristan, Balochistan and Iran was alarming. He said unknown persons opened fire on 12 Pakistani labourers in Iran. Nine of them were killed and three others injured. He said all the deceased and injured belonged to districts of Multan, Lodhran, Alipur and Ahmedpur Sharqia. He said five were from Alipur, two from Lodhran and two were from Ahmedpur Sharqia, while three injured belonged to Multan.