Pakistan launched retaliatory airstrikes on Thursday inside Iran, killing at least nine, the day after Islamabad warned that an earlier Iranian attack on Pakistani territory could lead to “serious consequences.”
Pakistan said its “specifically targeted precision military strikes” targeted “terrorist hideouts” in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province on the Pakistani border. The operation risked damaging relations between the neighboring countries further after Tehran carried out a missile and drone attack on a separate militant group inside Pakistan on Tuesday in yet another instance of militarized violence to erupt in the Middle East since the breakout of Israel’s war against Hamas.
Both Baluch groups targeted by Iran and Pakistan this week hold broadly similar separatist goals across the two countries’ border, with both nations accusing the other of providing sanctuary to terrorists.
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In a statement, the foreign ministry of nuclear-armed Pakistan said it had for years shared concerns with Iran about “terrorists calling themselves Sarmachars.” “However, because of lack of action on our serious concerns, these so-called Sarmachars continued to spill the blood of innocent Pakistanis with impunity,” the statement continued. “This morning’s action was taken in light of credible intelligence of impending large scale terrorist activities by these so called Sarmachars.”
Islamabad further stressed that the strikes were a “manifestation of Pakistan’s unflinching resolve to protect and defend its national security against all threats.” It nevertheless said it respects Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. “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,” the statement added.
Ali Reza Marhamati, a deputy governor in the Iranian province where the strikes took place, said three women, four children, and two men were killed in the attacks, according to the Associated Press. He added that the deceased were not Iranian citizens.
The Baluch Liberation Army, an ethnic separatist group, said the strikes had killed its members. “Pakistan will have to pay a price for it,” the organization said. “Now the Baluch Liberation Army will not remain silent. We will avenge it and we announce war on the state of Pakistan.”
Baluch nationalists have conducted insurgency attacks in both Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and Pakistan’s Baluchistan province for over 20 years. The Baluch Liberation Army, which has operated in the region since at least 2000, does not have a religious element, differing from the Sunni group Jaish al-Adl, which Iran attacked inside Pakistan on Tuesday.
Iran’s strikes, which Pakistan said also killed two children, came after Tehran conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in response to bombings which left scores of people dead in Iran. ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombings, and Iran said it had targeted sites associated with the group in Syria. It also claimed to have destroyed Israel’s “spy headquarters” in Iraq’s Kurdish region after Iranian officials accused Tel Aviv of being involved in the terror attack.
