PAKISTAN SAYS TWO CHILDREN KILLED IN ‘COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE’ IRAN ATTACK

Social media accounts reported blasts in the mountainous Balochistan province, where the two countries share a sparsely populated border nearly 1,000km (620 miles) long.

“This violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty is completely unacceptable and can have serious consequences,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

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This is the place in Balochistan where #Iran fired 2 missiles in a targeted attack and killed 2 innocent children, Pakistan will retaliate very soon. #ISPR pic.twitter.com/meMnERZ9jI

— Khawaja Yaseen Usmani (@YasinUsmani_Ofl) January 17, 2024

It said the strike late on Tuesday “resulted in death of two innocent children while injuring three girls”.

Iran’s state media reported earlier that Tehran had targeted two bases of the armed group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan, with the IRNA news agency and state television saying missiles and drones were used in the strikes. Press TV, the English-language arm of Iranian state television, attributed the attack to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. There was no official comment from Tehran.

Jaish al-Adl, the “Army of Justice”, has been launching deadly attacks against Iranian border guards since at least 2013 and has previously claimed bombings and kidnappings of border police.

Iran’s Nournews, which is affiliated with the country’s top security body, said the bases were in Balochistan province.

Pakistan’s statement did not mention the location of the incident, but two Pakistani security officials told the Associated Press news agency that the Iranian strikes damaged a mosque in Balochistan’s Panjgur district, about 50km (30 miles) inside the border. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Tehran and Islamabad frequently accuse each other of allowing armed groups to operate from the other’s territory.

“Such unilateral acts are not in conformity with good neighbourly relations and can seriously undermine bilateral trust and confidence.”

On Monday, Iran fired missiles into northern Syria targeting the ISIL (ISIS) group and into Iraq at what it called an Israeli “spy headquarters” near the United States Consulate compound in the city of Erbil.

Iraq on Tuesday called the attacks, which killed several civilians, a “blatant violation” of Iraq’s sovereignty and recalled its ambassador from Tehran.