(The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media and PR wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces has said that four security personnel were killed as a result of terrorist activity from across the Pakistan-Iran border in the Panjgur district of Balochistan, Dawn Newspaper reported.

A statement by the ISPR on Wednesday said that four security personnel have been killed in terrorist activity from across the Pakistan-Iran border in the Chukab sector. The ISPR further said that the militants used Iranian soil to “target a convoy of security forces patrolling along the border”.

Iran has been asked to hunt down the terrorists on their side, the ISPR statement said, Dawn reported.

The incident was condemned by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He said: “Nation pays homage to the sacrifices of their martyred soldiers in [the] line of duty. We expect Iran will ensure that its soil is not used for cross-border attacks.”

The attack was also condemned by Pakistan president Arif Alvi who paid tribute to the services and sacrifices rendered by the officials killed. He said that the whole nation has pledged to fight terrorism.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the attack. “Martyred officials are the country’s heroes. The militant who carried out the attack will have to pay,” he said in a statement.

Last year in October, the Iranian authorities closed the border with Pakistan at Taftan for two days after clashes between protesters and security forces in Zahedan, the capital city of Sistan-Baluchestan, Dawn Newspaper reported.

The border in Panjgur was closed in February 2021, after violent demonstrations and attacks on government offices in the Saravan area of Sistan-Balochestan.

Recently, a police constable and a terrorist were killed in Pakistan after a gunman attacked a police checkpost in the Shahbaz Khel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat District, a local police official said, according to a report in The Dawn.

According to The Dawn report, “Lakki Marwat police spokesperson Shahid Hameed said that terrorists attacked the police check post with heavy and automatic weapons and tried to break in. RPG-7s, grenades and other advanced weapons were used.”

The police spokesperson said that the attack was thwarted as a result of the police’s timely action.

The year 2022 ended with the deadliest month for Pakistan’s security personnel in over a decade, said an Islamabad-based think tank as it pointed to the emergence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the biggest threat to the country.