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17-12-2023
By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies
ISLAMABAD/ TEHRAN: Pakistan’s foreign office on Sunday condemned an attack on a police station in Iran this week that killed 11 people, stressing the need to tackle “terrorism” through bilateral and regional cooperation.
At least 11 Iranian security personnel were killed on Friday when militants attacked the police headquarters in Rask, a town located in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.
The attack was claimed by the militant group Jaish Al-Adl (Army of Justice) which operates mainly in southeastern Iran and has been blacklisted as a “terror” group by Tehran.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the terrorist attack at Rask Police HQs in the Southeastern region of Iran, which killed 11 Iranian officials and injured several others,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said in a statement.
Praying for the swift recovery of the injured, Pakistan said it stood in “full solidarity” with Iran’s government and people in this hour of “unspeakable tragedy.”
“Terrorism is a threat to regional as well as global peace and security and it needs to be confronted by all means including through bilateral and regional cooperation,” MoFA added.
Friday’s attack was one of the deadliest in years in the region which is close to Iran’s border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Iran and Pakistan have for years accused each other of not doing enough to stamp out militants allegedly sheltering along their lengthy shared border, which long has been plagued by unrest among drug smuggling gangs, and separatist and religious militants.
Small separatist groups have been behind a long-running insurgency calling for the independence of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province from the central government in Islamabad.
Pakistani anti-Iran militants have also targeted the Iranian border in recent years, increasing friction between the countries.
In 2019, Iran and Pakistan said they would form a joint quick reaction force to combat militant activity along the border but since then little has been reported about the force or its work.
Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks in its western regions bordering Afghanistan, ever since a fragile truce between Islamabad and the Pakistani Taliban broke down in November 2022.
