Bodies of nine Pakistanis killed in Iran were handed over to the government on Thursday.

Taftan Assistant Commissioner Waqar Kakar received bodies at the Friendship Gate, the crossing between the two countries, from the Iranian border security guards.

Nine Pakistani labourers were gunned down in southeastern Iran near the Pakistan border on Saturday, the ambassador said.

The foreign ministry described it as “terrorist incident” and had asked Tehran to investigate the incident. Pakistan blamed the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army and Balochistan Liberation Front for the incident.

“It is a horrifying and despicable incident and we condemn it unequivocally,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said following the news.

Details of bodies

1. Malik Azhar,29, a resident of the Alipur district in Muzaffargarh
2. Muhammad Shoaib, 19, a resident of Muzaffargarh
3. Nazir Ahmed, 51, a resident of Muzaffargarh
4. Muhammad Akmal, 41, a resident of Alipur in Muzaffargarh
5. Muhammad Abubakar, 25, a resident of Lodhran
6. Shehryar, 15 to 16 years, a resident of Multan
7. Shabir Ahmed, 38, a resident of Layya
8. Muhammad Nadeem, 24, a resident of Bahawalpur
9. Muhammad Shehzad, 23, a resident of Bahawalpur

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in his visit to Pakistan last month said that no one would be allowed to threaten the common security of the two countries.

He added that there was “no doubt” that third countries were supporting militants in the region around the Pak-Iran border.