Pakistan yesterday launched deadly strikes against militant targets in Iran in apparent retaliation for Iranian air raids on its territory, further stoking tensions and prompting Tehran to summon Pakistan’s envoy.
Nine people, including three women and four children, were killed in the Pakistani strikes in restive Sistan-Baluchistan Province, Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency said.
It came just two days after Iran conducted strikes against what it described as “terrorist” targets in Pakistan, killing at least two children. While Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan often accuse each other of allowing militants to operate from the other’s territory to launch attacks, it is rare that official forces on either side engage.
The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs described yesterday raids as a “series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts” in Sistan-Baluchistan.
Drones and rockets were used in the strikes, which targeted Baluch separatist movements, the army said. The Pakistani military has been waging a decades-long fight against the separatist groups in its sparsely populated border region.
Iran condemned the strikes, and summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires “to protest and request an explanation from the Pakistani government,” Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Nasser Kanani said.
Iran’s Fars News Agency said those killed were believed to be Pakistani nationals, without citing its sources.
Pakistan said the strikes were launched in light of “credible intelligence of impending large-scale terrorist activities,” adding that “a number of terrorists were killed.”
Islamabad affirmed that it “fully respects” Iran’s sovereignty, and said the strikes’ “sole objective” was to ensure “Pakistan’s own security and national interest, which is paramount and cannot be compromised.”
Iranian media said that the strikes hit a village near the city of Saravan. Previously, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had said his country’s strikes in Pakistan were in response to the Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) jihadist group’s recent deadly attacks on the Islamic republic.
Pakistan denounced Iran’s strike near their shared border, recalled its ambassador from Iran and blocked Tehran’s envoy from returning to Islamabad
With tensions mounting, China offered to mediate between Pakistan and Iran — both close partners of Beijing — and urged both sides to “exercise calm and restraint.”
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