In a statement on Saturday night, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei denounced the terrorist attack on a police checkpoint in the city of Tank, extending condolences to the families of the victims as well as the government and people of neighboring Pakistan.
Reaffirming Iran's principled position of unequivocally condemning all forms of terrorism and extremism, Baqaei said there can be no justification for terrorist or violent acts targeting civilians or security personnel.
He also stressed the need to strengthen cooperation and coordination among regional countries to combat terrorism in an effective and sustained manner, calling for coordinated efforts to identify, pursue, and bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers, supporters, and financiers of terrorist acts.
According to Pakistani officials, 15 people, including 12 military personnel, two police officers, and a former forest department official, have been killed in a terrorist attack on a police post in the Tank district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, after attackers "rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall" of a police check post in an attempt to breach it.
The attackers were affiliated with "Indian-sponsored Fitna Al Khwarij," a statement said, a terminology Islamabad uses to refer to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a consortium of several militant groups in the country.
Twelve attackers were killed during the attack, according to the statement.