Eight Pakistani citizens were brutally killed in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province, Iranian and Pakistani officials said on Saturday in what has been described as a shocking act of violence near the two countries’ shared border.
The victims, who all came from the Bahawalpur district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, worked at a car workshop in the distant village of Hazerabad in Mehrestan district, where they performed vehicle painting, polishing and repair work.
Among the deceased were Dilshad, his son Naeem and others identified as Jafar, Danish and Nasir.
According to local sources, the victims were found with their hands and feet tied and had been shot dead up close.
The attack took place during the night when unidentified attacks stormed the workshop and opened fire without discrimination and killed all eight men on the spot.
Iranian security forces were cut off from the area and restored the bodies. Authorities have launched an investigation, but no arrests have been made and the perpetrators remain unidentified.
No group has so far assumed responsibility for the attack. However, preliminary reports suggest the involvement of an anti-Pakistan militant organization operating in the border area.
The Pakistani Embassy in Tehran confirmed that its representatives have reached the site to help identify the bodies and collect additional information.
“We are in continuous contact with Iranian authorities,” said a spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy in Tehran. “All sorts of steps will be taken to support the affected families and ensure justice is served.”
Pakistani workers are often employed in Iran’s border areas, especially in vehicle repair and agriculture. However, recent killings have raised fresh concerns about the security of foreign workers in the country’s residual eastern provinces.
This is not the first time such an event has taken place in the region. Last January, nine Pakistani nationals were killed by unidentified guns in Saravan, another city in Sistan-Baluchestan.
According to Iran’s Mehr news agency, attackers went into a residence in the Sirkan neighborhood and opened fire, killed nine and wounded three others before flinging from the stage.
Provincial Governor, Alireza Marhamati, confirmed the details with reference to survivors’ accounts of three armed attacks that performed the attack.
Pakistan’s ambassador to Tehran, Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, expressed deeply shock at the time and called the killings “horrible” in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The recurring violence emphasizes the growing uncertainty in Iran’s eastern regions, where ethnic tensions, smuggling of networking and militant activity have contributed to instability and frequent cross -border concerns.
