ISLAMABAD, Oct 21 Pakistan will support Iran in tracking down those responsible for a suicide bomb attack in southeastern Iran, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Wednesday.

Rebel group Jundallah (God's soldiers) claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack that killed 42 people, including several commanders of Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Iran says the group operates from across the border in Pakistan. The commander of the Guards' ground forces, Mohammad Pakpour, was quoted by state television as seeking permission on Tuesday to hunt terrorists inside Pakistan.

Mr Qureshi declined to comment on the television report and said an Iranian delegation was due in Pakistan for talks.

“We will help them and support them in unearthing the people responsible,” Mr Qureshi told Reuters by telephone. “We will sort this thing out on a government-to-government basis.

He said terrorism was a regional problem and the two countries had to help each other.

“What we are asking is that we as neighbours, as friends, as brotherly friendly countries, have to adopt a cooperative regional approach to deal with this menace,” he said. “Pakistan is suffering, Pakistan is a victim of terrorism.”

Pakistan has condemned Sunday's bombing which it called a “ghastly act of terrorism” in an area near its border with Iran.

Analysts say Jundallah is increasingly inspired by militants based in Pakistan.

Jundallah denies any links to regional militant groups but analysts have linked it to Punjab-based Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which works closely with the Pakistani Taliban.

Both are believed to have ties to Al Qaeda.

President Asif Ali Zardari and his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, spoke on the telephone this week and stressed the need for cooperation in confronting and eradicating “criminal terrorists”.

Relations between Iran and Pakistan have been generally good in recent years and the neighbours are cooperating on plans to build a natural gas pipeline.

But Iran has in the past accused Pakistan of hosting members of Jundallah, and Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Monday the group had ties with US, British and Pakistani intelligence organisations. —Reuters