Pakistan Launches Deadly Strikes on “Terrorist Hideouts” in Iran

Pakistan says it had carried out strikes against separatist militants in Iran, after Tehran launched attacks on Pakistani territory earlier this week.

Several missiles hit a village in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province bordering Pakistan, killing four children, three women and two men, Iranian state media reported on January 18. Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that none of those killed were Iranian.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned Pakistan’s attack and summoned the Pakistani chargé d'affaires to protest.

According to an unidentified intelligence official in Islamabad, the strikes targeted members of the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), which seeks independence for Pakistan's Balochistan province.

Citing a provincial official, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported that "several explosions have been heard in several areas around the city of Saravan.”

"This morning Pakistan undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Siestan-o-Baluchistan province of Iran," the Pakistani Foreign Office said in a statement, adding that a "number of terrorists were killed."

"This morning's action was taken in light of credible intelligence of impending large-scale terrorist activities," the statement said.

It added that "Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” and that “the sole objective of today’s act was in pursuit of Pakistan’s own security and national interest, which is paramount and cannot be compromised."

Beijing said it was willing to mediate between Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan.

"The Chinese side sincerely hopes that the two sides can exercise calm and restraint and avoid an escalation of tension," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. "We are also willing to play a constructive role in de-escalating the situation if both sides so wish."

The Pakistani strikes come after Tehran confirmed carrying out strikes against militant bases inside Pakistan late on January 16, an attack that Islamabad said killed two children. 

Pakistan recalled its ambassador from Iran and blocked Tehran's envoy -- currently in Iran -- from returning to the country in protest of the "unprovoked and blatant breach of Pakistan's sovereignty."

The Iranian attack targeted the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan, Iranian officials said, after Tehran also launched attacks in Iraq and Syria against what it called "anti-Iranian terrorist groups."

Tehran and Islamabad frequently accuse each other of allowing militants to operate from each other's territory to launch attacks.