Iran-based group is behind killings: FM

islamabad — The gunmen who killed 14 bus passengers, including security personnel, in Balochistan earlier this week, came from Iran to carry out the attack, officials said on Saturday.

Some 20 people wearing uniforms from the paramilitary Frontier Corps stopped buses on the Makran Coastal Highway in Ormara, Balochistan, offloaded 14 passengers and shot them dead.

The foreign ministry said in a letter to the Iranian government on Saturday that the assailants came from a newly formed Baloch separatist group, Raji Aajoi Sangar, based in Iran’s adjacent province. It urged Iran to act against the attackers who had fled back across the border.

Speaking to media, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Pakistan had evidence the

“terrorist outfits” that carried out the attack have “training and logistic camps inside Iranian areas bordering Pakistan”.

Those killed included 10 serving with the navy, three with the air force and one with the coastguard.

“We have shared this actionable evidence with Iran after due authentication and identified (the) location

of the camps,” Qureshi said.

Pakistan has created a new southern Frontier Corps with its headquarters in Balochistan’s city of Turbat to more effectively control its 950-kilometre long border with Iran, he said.

The construction of a fence along the border has already begun, he added. “We have clearly told Iranian authorities about the elements involved in the attack”.

“Pakistan hopes they will take a swift action against the Baloch terrorist outfits,” Qureshi said, referring to his telephone conversation with Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.

“We also hope that our Afghan brethren will... take necessary action because these Baloch terrorist outfits also have links in Afghanistan,” he added.

“Zarif also assured me that his government would help Pakistan bring them to justice”.

Prime Minister Imran Khan will make an official visit to Tehran from Sunday, with topics of discussion to include ways to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future.

Qureshi said the two countries would set up joint border controls with “mutual consultations to ensure peace”. —