Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan met Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Wednesday in Islamabad for talks after a terrorist attack near the Pak-Iran border resulted in the killing of 10 Iranian border guards.

The Iranian foreign minister asserted during meeting that: "Pakistan and Iran will have to work together to solve the issues facing the Muslim ummah and form a consensus on international matters."

Zarif said Iran accords great importance to its relationship with Pakistan, adding that the "hearts of the two countries beat together."

Chaudhry Nisar, in turn, assured the Iranian foreign minister that Pakistan would "not let anything stand in the way of good relations with Iran".

"Pakistan and Iran have geographical, religious and historical ties," the interior minister added.

Ten border guards of Mirjaveh county in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province were killed in an ambush by terrorists along the Pakistani border’s zero-point last week.

After the attack, Iranian police said the guards were killed by long-range guns and “the Pakistani government bears the ultimate responsibility of the attack”.

Iran-based militant group Jaish al Adl, or the Army of Justice, had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Zarif had earlier said that Tehran would "spare no effort in following up the case through diplomatic channels and punishing terrorist thugs".

During Wednesday's meeting, the two ministers agreed to cooperate with each other for effective border management and to curb drug trafficking and illegal cross border movement through intelligence-sharing.

They agreed to constitute operational committee at various levels to ensure border management.

Border security has been a major irritant in the bilateral relations that have been marred by mutual mistrust.

Iranians accuse Pakistan of turning a blind eye to the presence of terrorist groups along the border from where they have carried out several attacks in their territory.

The bilateral border mechanism, established for dealing with these matters, has not been functioning effectively. Iran has taken an unprecedentedly tougher line on the recent terrorist incident.

President Hassan Rouhani had in a letter asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take action against the terrorist groups and punish them to deter future incidents.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran was also summoned over the attack.

The Foreign Office had in response to Iranian protests offered cooperation for strengthening coordination and security along the border.

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