Eight workers from Pakistan’s Punjab province were killed by Baloch militants in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province in an incident of target killing, according to a media report on Sunday.

The tragic incident took place in a village in Meharistan district on Saturday, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The Iranian authorities confirmed the killing of the Pakistani nationals, saying that the victims hailed from Bahawalpur and worked at a car repair shop. All the eight Pakistanis who were killed belong to Bahawalpur city of southern Punjab, the Iranian officials said, adding that they were staying at the workshop where they used to dent, polish, paint and repair cars.

According to reports, unknown armed men barged into the workshop in the night and tied their hands and feet. They then opened indiscriminate firing and killed them. The attackers fled after killing the eight Pakistani workers. The Iranian police rushed to the area after receiving information about the tragic incident. A spokesman for the banned Balochistan National Army (BNA) in a statement issued to the media claimed responsibility for the killing of eight Pakistanis.

Iranian authorities have said that the Iranian police were investigating the incident. It was the second such incident in the Sistan Baluchestan. In January of last year, armed men killed nine Pakistanis in Saravan city who were also working in Iran as motor mechanics and staying at a workshop.

Local groups in Pakistan and Iran are part of a decades-long struggle for greater autonomy in Balochistan.

Last year in January, Iran attacked Pakistan. Pakistan retaliated with a missile strike inside Iranian territory, escalating border tensions.

Iran claimed it was targeting Jaish al-Adl, a militant group active against Iran, while Pakistan said it was aiming at the “hideouts” of two militant groups inside Iran, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF). Pakistan’s Balochistan has long grappled with insurgency and unrest. Locals, particularly the Balochs, have blamed governments for exploiting and profiting from Balochistan’s resources while neglecting the development of the region itself.