ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday carried out retaliatory attacks on what it called a “terrorist hideout” inside Iran, Pakistan’s foreign ministry announced. This comes in response to attacks by Tehran against alleged militants in Iranian territory, in which it said two children were killed in Islamabad.
The airstrike, the highest-profile cross-border attack in recent years, comes amid growing concerns about instability in the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7.
On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian confirmed Tehran’s attack on Pakistani soil that targeted militants from the Jash al-Adil group the previous day. Iran said the ethnic extremist group was hiding out within its border with Pakistan and attacking Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a press conference on Thursday: “This morning, Pakistan launched a series of highly coordinated and specific targets against terrorist hideouts in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province. “We carried out a precision military attack targeting the enemy.”
“A large number of terrorists were killed during an intelligence-based operation codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar.”
“Margh Bar” means “death” in Persian, and “Sarmachar” means guerrilla in the local Baloch language. Used by extremists operating in the beyond. and Baluchestan province. Both regions have faced low-level insurgencies by Baloch separatists for decades.
Pakistan’s military said in a separate statement that it carried out “precision strikes” using lethal drones, rockets, loitering and standoff weapons while taking “the utmost care” to avoid collateral damage. The military said it had raided the hideouts of the Balochistan Liberation Army and the Balochistan Liberation Front, separatist groups that have led a low-level insurgency against Pakistan for years.
Iran’s Mehr news agency reported on Thursday morning that “explosions were heard, followed by a drone and missile attack on the city of Sarawan in southeastern Sistan Baluchestan province, injuring several people.”
The Associated Press reported the death toll from Ali Reza Marhamati, deputy governor of Sistan Baluchestan province, including three women, four children and two men killed near the town of Saravan along the provincial border. He said that it was Malhamati said the dead were not Iranian nationals.
The BLA, which has been active in the region since 2000 and is fighting for independence from Pakistan, said in a statement that the attack targeted and killed people in the region.
“Pakistan will have to pay the price,” the group warned. “Now the Baloch Liberation Army will not remain silent either. We will take revenge and declare war on the Pakistani state.”
Pakistan has long accused Iran of providing sanctuary to militants who carry out attacks in Pakistan. Iran, which denies state complicity, also accuses Islamabad of granting sanctuary to anti-Iranian militants, an accusation Iran rejects.
“Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a briefing on Thursday.
“The sole purpose of today’s act is to pursue Pakistan’s own security and national interests, which are paramount and cannot be compromised…The targets (of Thursday’s attack) were It was a hideout and sanctuary for the terrorists, now based in Iran. ”
Asked about Iran’s claim that it informed Pakistan before carrying out Tuesday’s airstrike, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said: “That is not the case at all.”
She said there was “no such information shared with Pakistan prior to the acts that occurred two nights ago.”
Pakistan on Wednesday recalled Iran’s ambassador and blocked the return of Tehran’s envoy, who is currently in Iran.
“As decided, the Pakistani ambassador returned to Islamabad from Tehran,” Baloch spokesperson confirmed to Arab News.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Qanani said Iran strongly condemned Thursday’s airstrike, adding that Pakistan’s most senior diplomat in Tehran, Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires, had been summoned for an explanation.
Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar will cut short his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos and return home, a foreign ministry spokesperson said in Islamabad.
Even before attacking Pakistan on Tuesday, Iran launched attacks against Syria, where Tehran says Daesh is based, and Iraq, where it says it attacked an Israeli intelligence center. Baghdad recalled its ambassador from Tehran.
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