Pakistan carried out attacks inside Iran on Thursday, targeting separatist militants, the Pakistani foreign ministry said, two days after Tehran said it had attacked militant bases linked to Israel inside Pakistani territory.
The neighbors have had rocky ties in the past, but the attacks are the highest-profile cross-border intrusion in recent years, prompting Tehran to demand an explanation, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
Iranian media said several missiles hit a village in Sistan-Balochistan province, bordering Pakistan, killing three women and four children, all non-Iranians.
“Several terrorists were killed during the intelligence-based operation,” the Pakistani ministry said in a statement, describing it as a “series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts.”
“Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the ministry added in its statement.
“The sole objective of today’s act was the pursuit of Pakistan’s own security and national interest, which is paramount and cannot be compromised.”
A Nasr multi-tube ballistic missile is displayed during a Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad in March 2015. Getty Images
Tehran has asked Islamabad for an explanation about the attacks, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said, citing an unnamed official.
A Pakistani intelligence source told Reuters that the attacks were carried out by military aircraft.
“Our forces have carried out attacks against Baloch militants inside Iran,” the intelligence official said in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.
“The attacked militants belong to the BLF,” he added, referring to the Balochistan Liberation Front, which seeks independence for Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses Iranian clerics during a meeting on January 16, 2024. ZUMAPRESS.com
Iran said on Tuesday it had attacked Israel-linked militant bases inside Pakistan.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan said civilians had been hit and two children had died, warning of consequences for which Tehran would be responsible.
Islamabad recalled its ambassador to Iran on Wednesday in protest at what it called a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty.
ESCALATION FEARS
Pakistan’s comments after its retaliatory strikes indicate a desire to keep the dispute contained, but analysts warned it could spiral out of control.
“Iran’s motivation to attack Pakistan remains opaque, but in light of broader Iranian behavior in the region it may intensify,” Asfandyr Mir, a South Asia security expert at the Institute of Peace, told Reuters. USA.
“What will cause anxiety in Tehran is that Pakistan has crossed a line by attacking Iranian territory, a threshold that even the United States and Israel have been careful not to cross.”
Pakistani police officers stand guard outside Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry building in Islamabad on January 18, 2024, after the country launched an attack inside Iran. AFP via Getty Images
Both target groups operate in an area that includes Balochistan province in southwestern Pakistan and Sistan-Baluchistan province in southeastern Iran. Both are restless, mineral-rich and largely undeveloped.
The BLF, which Islamabad attacked inside Iran, is waging an armed insurgency against the Pakistani state.
This includes hitting Chinese citizens and investments in Balochistan, which is Pakistan’s largest province by land mass, but the least populated and developed. Large portions are illegal.
The Jaish al Adl (JAA), targeted by Iran, is also an ethnic militant group, but with Sunni Islamist leanings that mainly Shiite Iran sees as a threat.
Pakistani army soldiers near nuclear-capable missiles at the International Defense Exhibition on November 27, 2008. AFP via Getty Images
The group has carried out attacks in Iran against its powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In its previous incarnation as Jundallah, the group had pledged allegiance to the jihadist group Islamic State, based in Iraq and Syria.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn