Pakistani tit-for-tat airstrikes on Iran leave at least nine dead, official says

18 January 2024, 10:14

Iran Pakistan
Iran Pakistan. Picture: PA

The strikes imperil diplomatic relations between the two neighbours.

Pakistan’s air force launched retaliatory airstrikes early Thursday in Iran allegedly targeting militant hideouts, an attack that killed at least nine people and further raised tensions between the neighbouring nations.

The strikes followed Iran’s Tuesday attack on Pakistani soil that killed two children in the south-western Baluchistan province.

Iran’s state media on Thursday said several explosions were heard near Saravan city close to the border of Iran and Pakistan.

A deputy governor of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, Ali Reza Marhamati, gave the casualty figures in a telephone interview, saying at least nine people were dead, including three women and four children. He did not immediately elaborate.

The strikes imperil diplomatic relations between the two neighbours, as Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan have long regarded each other with suspicion over militant attacks.

The attacks also raised the threat of violence spreading in a Middle East unsettled by Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Iran also staged air strikes late on Monday in Iraq and Syria over an Islamic State-claimed suicide bombing that killed over 90 people earlier this month. Iraq has recalled its ambassador from Iran for consultations.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry described their attack as “a series of highly co-ordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes”.

A statement said: “This morning’s action was taken in light of credible intelligence of impending large scale terrorist activities.

“This action is a manifestation of Pakistan’s unflinching resolve to protect and defend its national security against all threats.”

Pakistan’s military described using “killer drones, rockets, loitering munitions and standoff weapons” in the attack. Stand-off weapons are missiles fired from aircraft at a distance — likely meaning Pakistan’s fighter jets did not enter Iranian airspace.

Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister, Anwaarul-Haq-Kakar, who is in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, cut his trip short to return home, foreign ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said. Foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani is also returning home from a trip to Uganda.

Several insurgent groups operate in Iran and Pakistan, including the Jaish al-Adl Sunni separatist group that was targeted by Tehran in its own strike. They all have a common goal of an independent Baluchistan for ethnic Baluch areas in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, as well as Iran’s neighbouring Sistan and Baluchestan province, have faced a low-level insurgency by Baluch nationalists for more than two decades.

HalVash, an advocacy group for the Baluch people, shared images online that appeared to show the remains of the munitions used in the attack.

It said a number of homes had been struck in Saravan, a city in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province. It shared videos showing a mud-walled building destroyed and smoke rising over the strike immediately after.

Thursday’s development came a day after Pakistan recalled its ambassador to Tehran because of Tuesday’s strikes by Iran inside Pakistan’s south-western Baluchistan province.

Iran claimed it targeted bases for a militant Sunni separatist group. It drew strong condemnation from Pakistan, which denounced the attack as a “blatant violation” of its airspace and said it killed two children.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Basem Naim, a Hamas leader

Hamas prepared for 'immediate' ceasefire in Gaza but claims Israel has not offered any 'serious proposals' in months

Donald Trump with Matt Gaetz

Trump's pick for US attorney-general faced sex-trafficking investigation by department he's now set to lead

TOPSHOT-PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-DISPLACED

Ukraine-style visa scheme for Gaza families proposed by Labour MP

President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office

Donald Trump names ‘reckless’ Matt Gaetz attorney general as president-elect holds historic meeting with Joe Biden

President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump and Biden 'both really enjoyed seeing each other', claims President-elect after historic meeting at White House

President Trump Speaks at America First Agenda Summit

Who has Trump picked to be in his cabinet so far and who is in the running?

Two women - who were part of a global monkey torture network - have been jailed

Two women jailed after being part of 'sickening and sadistic' monkey torture network

US President Joe Biden shakes hands with US President-elect Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in

'Welcome back': Donald Trump returns to the White House to meet Joe Biden and begin transfer of power

Chanel Banks has been missing for over two weeks

Gossip Girl star Chanel Maya Banks missing for two weeks as family launch desperate search

Spanish people have been seen bracing for more flooding in drastic ways

Spain takes drastic measures as more flooding looms, as some locals even tie their cars up and wrap them in film

Hvaldimir died earlier this year

Russian 'spy' Beluga whale 'was being trained to guard Kremlin's military base but fled because it was a hooligan'

Donald Trump has appointed Elon Musk to his cabinet when he becomes president

Elon Musk to lead US ‘DOGE’ department to cut bureaucracy which they claim will be ‘Manhattan Project of our time’

Donald Trump has appointed Elon Musk to his cabinet when he becomes president

Donald Trump confirms tech billionaire Elon Musk will join cabinet when he becomes president

Several sandbags to contain the new flood in Aldaia, Valencia

Flood-hit areas of Spain brace for torrential rain forecast as orange alert issued

The husband of Erin Jayne Plummer has reportedly died in a suspected self-harm incident

Husband of Australian TV star dies suddenly two years after her suicide leaving three kids orphaned

Police in Zhuhai after the incident

Dozens of people killed and over 40 injured after car ploughs into crowd outside stadium in China