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Iran summons Pakistan envoy over massacre of border guards

Friday, 28 April 2017 8:14 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 28 April 2017 9:58 AM ]

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi (Photo by IRNA)

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the Pakistani ambassador to communicate Tehran’s strong protest over the recent massacre of Iranian border guards by Pakistan-based terrorists.

On Wednesday, 10 Iranian border guards were killed and two others injured in clashes near the town of Mirjaveh in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan. The Jaish ul-Adl terror group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement.

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10 border guards killed in SE Iran

During the session, Pakistani Ambassador Asif Durrani was told that Tehran strongly demands Islamabad to act “seriously and decisively” to detain and punish the terrorists, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Friday.

“Unfortunately, Pakistan’s borders with us are the least safe ones, while we have tried to provide utmost safety on our borders with Pakistan. We expect the Pakistani side to act on the previous promises…by not allowing such incidents to happen from Pakistan’s borders and soil,” Qassemi added.

Durrani offered condolences and sympathy over the tragedy and said he would inform the respective government of the Islamic Republic’s concerns as soon as possible.

Rouhani writes to Sharif

President Hassan Rouhani also wrote to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

“Pakistan’s safety, growth and efflorescence has always topped Iran’s agenda of ties with the friendly and neighboring country…Iran’s soil has never been abused against any of its neighbors, including Pakistan,” he wrote.

However, Iran “is very disheartened that it is repeatedly transgressed upon from the Pakistani soil by armed bandits and terrorist hirelings,” he added.

The Iranian chief executive further said certain countries are targeting the Muslim world’s unity through proxy warfare. Such countries, he said, were trying to replace development, prosperity, and esteem in regional countries with underdevelopment, insecurity and poverty.

Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari, the chief of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces, meanwhile, warned Iran’s enemies that such brutal terrorist attacks “will not go unanswered.”

“Such desperate measures will never dent the religiously-devoted and revolutionary Iranian nation’s spirit of gallantry and do not make way for ill-wishers’ inroad [into the country],” he added.

France also condemned the deadly attack on Iranian border guards in a statement, saying, “We offer our condolences to the victims’ families and to the Iranian people.”

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