Islamabad seeks answers after eight Pakistanis shot dead in Iran | Armed Groups News

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has urged Iran to carry out a “comprehensive research” after eight Pakistani migrant workers were killed during the weekend in the province of Sistan-Baluchestán de Iran, who shares a border with the province of Southwest Baluchistan of Pakistan.

The attack took place on Saturday in Mehrestan County, located approximately 230 km (142 miles) from the Pakistan border, where unidentified assailants attacked a workshop.

According to the reports of the Iranian media, the eight workers, who belonged to several areas or the province of Punjab of Pakistan and worked as a mechanics, were tied and shot dead.

The Baloch Nationalist Army (BNA), a less known Baloch group that seeks the independence of Pakistan, has assumed the responsibility of the attack.

Iran and Pakistan rushed to condemn the attack, with the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan, says Amiri Moghadam, saying that “terrorism is a common threat through the region.”

The Pakistani envoy to Tehran, Mudassir Tipu, confirmed in a statement about X that the two countries were coordinating efforts to investigate the incident.

Previously, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry had sought a joint response against attackers. “Pakistan strongly condemns the inhuman and cowardly murder of their nationals in Iran. We expect full cooperation of the Iranian side to investigate the matter and in the timely repatriation of the victims’ remains,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

However, experts say that the deadly attack only stressed the tense security panorama along its shared border, where the two countries exchanged fire in the missiles last year, to hit in a batting to house mortal armed groups.

Ascending tensions along the border

The border between Pakistan-Iran has been tense since January 2024, when Iran launched attacks against Pakistani soil.

The Iranian government said he was aiming at Jaish al-adl, an armed group Ti batteries to carry out multiple attacks in Iran. Pakistan responded a day later with a retaliation attack that, he said, was based on “credible intelligence” with respect to “imminent large -scale terrorist activities” from the other side of the border.

A few days after the exchange, at least nine Pakistani workers were killed in the Saravan region of Iran by men not identified in an act of surprisingly similar violence to the Mehrestan incident.

Baluchistan, a region that covers parts of Iran and Afghanistan, has experienced an increase in violence during the past year, with the Baluchistan Liberation Army (bla) (bla) (bla) (bla) (bla) (bla) (bla) carrying out several large -scale attacks.

Last month, the Bla launched a bold attack by kidnapping the Express Jaffer, a Pakistani passenger train that transported about 400 people. After an operation that lasts more than 24 hours, the Pakistani security forces exceeded the kidnapping, eliminating at least 33 attackers. Thirty people, including 26 passengers and four security personnel, were also killed.

Baluchistan houses about 15 million of 240 million estimated people from Pakistan, according to the 2023 census. However, it remains the poorest region in the country despite its wealth in natural resources, including coal, gold, copper and gas.

It also houses one or the main deep water ports of Pakistan in Gwadar, a critical center in the Economic Corridor (CPEC) of $ 62 billion of China-Pakistan, designed to connect southwest China with the Arabic sea through Pakistan.

Baloch’s nationalist groups claim that the Pakistani State has neglected its people while exploiting the resources of the province, feeding the separatist movements and armed rebellions. Baloch activists also accuse the government of human rights violations and be behind the forced disappearances, a position that the Pakistan government denies.

The attempted BNA of Rassert witnesses?

While the Pakistani authorities have repeatedly accused the Taliban group, the intermediate rulers of Afghanistan or by house violent groups that perform cross -border attacks, criticism against the Iranian government security analyst.

Mehsud, who is also co -founder of the Khorasan newspaper, a security research portal, added that, although Tehran insists that he does not house Baloch’s armed separatists, multiple incidents in the last 15 months suggest that Balds Bordea.

While the BL remains the most powerful group in Baluchistan, addressing the law personnel, as well as Chinese interests, Mehsud said the BNA, the group that claimed Saturday’s attack, is smaller, with more limited resources.

There is no evidence to suggest that I will support the BNA in some way. In fact, the Baloch group sees Iran, since he sees Pakistan, as an occupant.

“BNA has also faced internal divisions in the past and is falling behind significantly behind Bla in terms of fighter force, including suicide squads, financial resources, propaganda capacities and arms availability,” Mehsud added.

He believes that the last attack can be an attempt at Raassert’s BNA.

Baloch rebels a threat to Iran too

The Islamabad-based analyst adds that the entire BNA opposes Iran, his threat to Tehran’s interests seems limited with Jaish Al-Adl, a Baloch group that has repeatedly attacked Iran in the past.

That, he said, could explain Iran’s approach to the two groups: prioritization one as one security threat on the other.

“Iran’s response to these groups differs significantly, persistently pointing to Jaish al-adl, without apparently not taking measures against the BNA,” Mehsud said.

Even so, after the attack of April 12, Iran has been firm in the search for a regional response to armed groups, which creates the possibility of greater coordination between Tehran and Islamabad to address security threats on both sides of the border.

“The combination of this sinister phenomenon requires collective efforts and sets from all countries to eradicate all forms of terrorism and extremism that have claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people in Pakdor, the Iranian ambassador, the Iranian ambassador, the Issuesadam Iranian, the Iranian embassada, in x .. in x ..