ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson on Thursday condemned a militant attack on Iranian military installations that killed five security officers, saying Islamabad would offer support to Tehran if it asks for it.
Suspected militants killed at least five Iranian security forces in two separate attacks on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards headquarters in the country’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan bordering Pakistan, Iran’s state media said.
Fifteen militants of the Jaish Al-Adl militant group, which launched the overnight attacks in the Iranian towns of Chabahar and Rask, were killed by security forces, Iranian state media said.
“Pakistan strongly and vehemently condemns any terror attack that takes place in our neighborhood, and we specifically condemn this attack that is taking place in Iran against the government and civilian facilities,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters at a weekly press briefing.
Baloch said the people and government of Pakistan stand in solidarity with Iran, adding that Islamabad is ready to provide “any support if asked by the Iranian authorities.”
“We would like to work with Iran to find joint solutions to terror,” she said.
Pakistan and Iran are often at odds with each other over instability on their shared border. Both countries have routinely blamed each other for not rooting out militancy.
Small separatist groups in Pakistan have been behind a long-running insurgency, calling for gas and oil-rich Balochistan’s independence from the central government in Islamabad.
Pakistani anti-Iran militants have targeted the Iranian border in recent years, increasing friction between the countries.
Tensions peaked in January between Pakistan and Iran after they exchanged airstrikes against alleged militant targets in each other’s territories. Both countries since then have made efforts to ease tensions and promote bilateral trade with each other.
Baloch pointed out that Pakistan and Iran have re-established all bilateral channels of communication that existed before January.
“There is a high-level delegation from Iran, currently in Pakistan, where all aspects of bilateral relations, between Pakistan and Iran, will be discussed,” she said.
