Iran
Pakistan says two children were killed and three others injured in attacks in “unprovoked violation” of its airspace
AP in Islamabad
Tuesday, January 16, 2024, 10:07 p.m. GMT
Iran has carried out airstrikes on bases of a Sunni militant group in Pakistan, potentially further escalating tensions in the region already inflamed by Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Pakistan said two children were killed and three others wounded in the attacks late Tuesday. The country described the attack as a “gratuitous violation” of its airspace.
Following the announcement from Iran, confusion reigned as reports of it in state media soon disappeared. However, Iran's attack inside nuclear-armed Pakistan threatens relations between the two countries, which have long viewed each other with suspicion while maintaining diplomatic ties.
The attack also followed Iranian attacks on Iraq and Syria less than a day earlier, when Tehran struck after a double suicide attack claimed by the Sunni militant group Islamic State that killed more than 90 people.
Iran's state news agency IRNA and state television reported that rockets and drones were used in the attacks in Pakistan against the militant group Jaish al-Adl. Press TV, the English-language arm of Iranian state television, attributed the attack to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guards.
Jaish al-Adl, or the Army of Justice, is a Sunni militant group founded in 2012 that operates largely across the border in Pakistan. The militants have carried out bombings and kidnapped Iranian border police in the past.
Iran has been fighting the militants in border areas, but a missile and drone attack on Pakistan is unprecedented for Iran. Iranian reports said the attacks took place in the mountains of Pakistan's Balochistan province.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry strongly criticized the attacks.
“Pakistan strongly condemns Iran's unprovoked violation of its airspace, which resulted in the death of two innocent children and injury to three girls,” the statement said. “This violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty is completely unacceptable and may have serious consequences.”
It added: “Pakistan has always said that terrorism is a common threat to all countries in the region that requires coordinated action. “Such unilateral actions are not in line with good neighborly relations and can seriously undermine bilateral trust.”
Two Pakistani security officials said the Iranian strikes damaged a mosque in Balochistan's Panjgur district, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) inside Pakistan from the Iranian border. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.
The attack came as Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met Pakistan's interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It was not immediately clear what the men discussed.
Balochistan has faced low-level insurgencies by Baloch nationalists for more than two decades. The Baloch nationalists initially wanted a share of the province's resources, but later launched a rebellion for independence.
Iran has long suspected that Sunni-majority Pakistan is harboring insurgents, possibly at the behest of its regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia. However, Iran and Saudi Arabia reached a détente brokered by China last March, leading to an easing of tensions.
Meanwhile, attacks by militants traveling from Iran targeted Pakistani security forces. In April 2023, four Pakistani soldiers were killed in Balochistan province in a militant attack from across the Iranian border.
Late Monday, Iran fired missiles at the Islamic State group in northern Syria and at a so-called Israeli “spy headquarters” near the U.S. consulate in the city of Erbil, Iraq.
On Tuesday, Iraq called the attacks that killed several civilians a “flagrant violation” of Iraq's sovereignty and recalled its ambassador from Tehran.