The bodies of 4 Pakistanis killed in the attack on a mosque in Oman have been returned to their homeland

ISLAMABAD – The bodies of four Pakistanis killed in an attack on a Shiite mosque in Oman this week have been recovered and handed over to their families, officials said Friday.

Relatives of the victims were present when the Pakistan International Airlines planes landed at Islamabad and Lahore airports. Airline spokesman Abdullah Hafeez said the bodies were repatriated on government orders and handed over to the victims’ relatives for burial.

Later, hundreds of mourners attended the funerals of the victims in their hometowns.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Shari condemned the attack at a meeting with Oman’s ambassador in Islamabad.

On Monday, armed men stormed a mosque in Oman’s capital Muscat. The mosque was full of believers holding special prayers on the eve of the Shiite mourning festival of Ashura. The festival commemorates the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, Hussein, in the 7th century in Karbala in what is now Iraq.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack. It was the first time that the Sunni extremist group claimed responsibility for such an attack in Oman. Omani police said the three attackers were killed in a subsequent shootout. They were Omani citizens and all brothers.

Many of the people in the mosque were Pakistanis, who make up a large proportion of the nearly 2 million migrants who work as construction workers and in other sectors that fuel Oman’s economy. Pakistan’s ambassador to Oman, Imran Ali, said his country was not the target and some of the Pakistanis had died trying to rescue other worshippers.

Sharif paid tribute to Oman at a meeting with the country’s ambassador, Fahad Sulaiman, his office said in a statement on Friday. He praised the envoy’s role in repatriating the bodies of four Pakistanis killed in Muscat. Sharif also offered Oman “Pakistan’s support in dealing with the threat of terrorism, which must be eradicated in all its forms.”

Also on Friday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack, saying: “Such acts of terrorism and violence against peaceful civilians cannot be tolerated under any circumstances.”

The attack shows the ongoing threat from terrorist organizations and reminds us of the importance of working together to fight them, ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a press conference in Islamabad on Friday. She said Pakistan had offered Oman its support in the investigation.