Two days after an Iranian attack on its territory, Pakistan said Thursday that it had carried out “attacks against terror hideouts” in Iran overnight, leaving nine people dead, according to Iranian state media.
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Pakistan, the only Muslim country with nuclear weapons, and Iran have faced simmering insurgencies along their shared border for decades.
These mutual attacks come at a time when the Middle East is reeling from the war between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip and attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on merchant ships in the Red Sea.
“This morning, Pakistan carried out a series of precise, highly coordinated and targeted attacks against terrorist hideouts in Sistan-Baluchestan Province” in southeastern Iran, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
“The measure (…) was taken in light of credible intelligence about impending terrorist activities on a large scale,” he explained, reiterating that a “certain number of terrorists” had been killed.
At least nine people, including four children and three women, “all of non-Iranian nationality,” were killed in border villages, Iranian state media reported, citing the deputy governor of Sistan-Baluchestan province, Alireza. Marhamati.
The Pakistani chargé d'affaires was asked to make “statements,” they also said.
Iran and Pakistan often accuse each other of allowing rebel groups to operate from each other's territories to launch attacks, but it is rare for both countries' militaries to be involved.
“National interests”
“Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry assured.
“The sole aim of today’s action (Thursday) was to work for the security of Pakistan and our national interests, which are of utmost importance and must not be compromised,” he added.
China, which has privileged relations with Islamabad and Tehran, said on Thursday it was ready to “play a constructive role to calm the situation.”
Tehran carried out an airstrike against “terrorist targets” in Pakistan on Tuesday evening. Islamabad on Wednesday deemed the attack, which resulted in the death of two children, “totally unacceptable” and unjustified.
According to Pakistani media, it occurred near Panjgur, in the southwest of Balochistan (West) province, where Pakistan and Iran share a thousand-kilometer-long border.
Balochistan, Pakistan's largest, least populated and poorest province, which also borders Afghanistan, has been rocked by a separatist insurgency for decades.
The province is rich in hydrocarbons and minerals, but the population complains that they are marginalized and deprived of their natural resources.
In response, Pakistan, which is preparing to hold parliamentary elections on February 8, recalled its ambassador to Iran and decided to prevent the return of the Iranian ambassador, who is currently in its country.
“With rocket and drone”
Pakistan's interim Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar will shorten his trip to Davos Forum (Switzerland) “in view of the current developments,” Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Mumtaz Zahra Baloch at a press conference on Thursday.
The Iranian attack “with missiles and drones” was aimed at the headquarters of the jihadist group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice in Arabic) in Pakistan in response to an “aggression against security” by Iran, according to the Iranian news agency Mehr.
Jaish al-Adl, founded in 2012, has carried out several attacks on Iranian soil in recent years. The group is classified as a “terrorist organization” by the United States.
In December, Jaish-al-Adl claimed responsibility for an attack on a police station in Rask, Sistan-Baluchestan, in which 11 Iranian police officers were killed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stressed on Wednesday that “Jaish al-Adl is a terrorist group that acts against the common security of the two countries.”
On Tuesday, Iran also launched missile strikes on so-called “spy” headquarters and “terrorist” targets in Syria and autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan.
The United States condemned the Iranian attacks, with State Department spokesman Matthew Miller denouncing the fact that Tehran has “violated the sovereign borders of its neighbors in recent days.”