By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Bodies of nine Pakistani laborers killed in Iran last week were repatriated to the northeastern city of Multan on Thursday, an official said.
The bodies were earlier handed over to Pakistani officials at the Taftan border near Quetta, the capital of southwestern Balochistan province, by Iranian authorities on Wednesday, but could not be flown to Multan due to bad weather, Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai told Anadolu.
The bodies have been kept at Multan’s Nishtar Medical College Hospital, and will soon be sent to their hometowns, a hospital spokesman confirmed to Anadolu.
The laborers were killed in an armed attack by unidentified assailants in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province of Iran. It’s still unclear which group was behind the killings as no individual or group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
The Sistan-Baluchestan province, bordering Pakistan, has often reported attacks by armed groups on both policemen and civilians in recent years.
The incident occurred less than two weeks after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, allegedly targeting the headquarters of the Jaish al-Adl militant group.
Jaish al-Adl is an Iranian militant group that is believed to have bases in the border region of Pakistan and has claimed responsibility for many terrorist attacks in the Sistan-Baluchestan province.
Pakistan retaliated with a missile strike on the bases of a militant group in the Sistan-Baluchestan province, which killed at least nine people, all non-Iranians.
Iran’s airstrikes also prompted Islamabad to downgrade diplomatic relations with Tehran. However, the two neighbors later agreed to normalize the ties, sending back each other’s ambassadors to their offices.