“The helicopters were flying overhead and heading in the direction where the Iranian attack took place, but we didn’t know what had happened,” said Maulana Mohammad Sadiq, 42, from a small madrasa about five kilometers (three miles) from where the attack took place. Was the prayer leader of. A missile attack, told AFP on Thursday.
Villagers feared that deteriorating relations between the two sides could lead to border closure and residents being cut off from Iranian trade, on which the region depends for employment and food imports.
“If the Iranians close the border, people will starve and it will lead to more extremism as youth will join separatist organizations,” said Haji Mohammad Islam, 55.
Baluch separatists are waging a low-level insurgency against Pakistani authorities in the largely ungovernable, poor region fighting for a better share of mineral resources.
Rights groups say the military’s crackdown on insurgency has included mass disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Following the return of the Taliban to power in 2021, terrorism has also increased rapidly along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan in the north.