Pakistan launched a series of military strikes on what it said were hideouts of separatist militants inside Iran, the latest incident on their shared border that has led to a sharp rise in tensions between the two neighbors, writes UNN citing CNN.
Details
The new strikes mean that both Pakistan and Iran took the extraordinary step of targeting militants in each other's territory this week, the publication said.
Islamabad said Thursday that its forces had launched "a series of well-coordinated and targeted precision military strikes" against the southeastern Iranian provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan in an operation dubbed "Marg Bar Sarmachar" - a phrase that broadly translates to "death to guerrillas.
A "few" militants were killed in the operation, Pakistan's foreign ministry added.
Tehran demanded "immediate explanations" from Pakistan over the strikes, Iran's state-run Tasnim news agency reported, citing an official.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, who is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, and caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Geelani, who is on a visit to Uganda, will cut short their trips and return home.
Alireza Marhamati, deputy governor of Sistan and Baluchistan province, told state television that the blasts killed at least seven people, including three women and four children who were foreign nationals.
"At 4:30 a.m., explosions were heard in the border village and several rockets were fired at the village," Markhamati said.
The deputy governor said another explosion occurred near Saravan town, but there were no casualties in the blast.
Pakistan stated that it "fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran" and that "the sole purpose of today's action was to safeguard Pakistan's own security and national interests, which are paramount and cannot be jeopardized.
The Pakistani operation came a day after Iran said it used "precision missile strikes and drone strikes" to destroy two strongholds of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, the Tasnim news agency reported.
The strikes killed two children and wounded several others, according to local officials and Pakistan's Foreign Office, which described the attack as an "unprovoked violation of Iran's airspace" and warned Iran of "serious consequences.
On Wednesday, it also set off a diplomatic spat with Pakistan, which recalled its ambassador from Iran and suspended all high-level Iranian visits.
Iran has defended the strikes and appears eager to reduce tensions with its nuclear-armed neighbor.
But the deadly attack inside Pakistan has severely damaged relations between the two countries, Foreign Minister Gilani told his Iranian counterpart.
Supplement
Both Pakistan and Iran have long been battling militants in the restive Baloch region along their 900-kilometer border, but the latest incident marks a major escalation between the two neighboring powers and comes amid intensifying regional hostilities in the Middle East amid ongoing Israeli actions in Gaza.