(Al Jazeera Media Network) Gunmen have killed nine Pakistanis in a restive southeastern border area of Iran, Pakistan has said, amid efforts by the two countries to mend ties after recent 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 Tipi, said on X on Saturday. “We called upon Iran to extend full cooperation in the matter.”

Earlier in the day, Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency reported the attack in Saravan in Sistan-Baluchestan province. It identified the dead only as foreign nationals and said no individuals or groups had claimed responsibility for the shootings.

The province’s deputy governor, Alireza Marhamati, told official news agency IRNA that according to survivors of the incident, “three armed people shot at the foreigners after entering their residence and fled the scene.” He confirmed the toll of nine deaths and said three others were wounded.

The Baluch rights group Haalvash said on its website that the victims were Pakistani labourers who lived at a car repair shop where they worked.

Calling the attack a “terrorist incident,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it was in touch with Iranian authorities and had asked Tehran to investigate the incident.

“It is a horrifying and despicable incident, and we condemn it unequivocally,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs 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 in this heinous crime.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/27/gunmen-kill-nine-pakistani-nationals-in-southeastern-iran