ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday called on Iranian authorities to hold accountable “responsible elements” behind an attack a day earlier in which four security personnel were killed in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province bordering Iran.
The Pakistan army said on Wednesday “Iranian soil” had been used to launch an attack on soldiers on patrol duty in Balochistan’s Panjgur district.
Iran and Pakistan have for years accused each other of not doing enough to stamp out militants allegedly sheltering across their lengthy, shared border, which has long been plagued by unrest from both drug smuggling gangs and separatist and religious militants.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the terrorist attack from across the Iran border,” Pakistani foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters at a media briefing. “Terrorists used the territory of Iran and we hope that Iran will act against the responsible elements.”
Baloch said Pakistan had never allowed its territory to be used against Iran.
“Iran also should not allow its territory to be used for terrorism against Pakistan,” the spokesperson added.
Pakistan also reportedly summoned the Iranian ambassador to express “grave concern over the terrorist attack.” The ambassador was said to be asked to bring the perpetrators to justice and “prevent recurrence of such incidents.”
In a press statement, the Iranian embassy in Islamabad condemned Wednesday’s attack and sent condolences to the families of the deceased.
“Terrorism is the common pain of Iran,” the statement said, “and Pakistan and both countries have fallen victim to this nefarious trend.”
In 2019, Iran and Pakistan said they would form a joint quick reaction force to combat militant activity on their shared border, but little has been reported since on the force’s work.
Pakistan has seen a spike in militant attacks in recent weeks, with most linked to the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group, or TTP, that unilaterally ended a cease-fire with the Pakistani government last November. The Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank, said Pakistan was hit by 254 militant attacks in 2022.
