Two children were killed and three others injured in an “illegal” airstrike by Iran, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said Wednesday, adding it had summoned Tehran’s top diplomat in Islamabad to protest the “unprovoked violation of its airspace”.
The statement did not say where the strike took place, but various Pakistani social media accounts reported blasts in Balochistan province, where the two countries share a sparsely populated border of nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 miles).
Iran said it struck headquarters of a Sunni armed group in Pakistan
Iran said it struck headquarters of a Sunni armed group in Pakistan just hours after its deadly strikes in Iraq and Syria.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported that sites belonging to Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) in Balochistan were struck with missiles and drones. Further details were not immediately available.
Later on Tuesday, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemns the unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran,” adding that the attack resulted in the death of two innocent children and injuries to three girls.
“It is even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran,” said the ministry.
Pakistan condemns deadly Iranian missile strike on its territory as an ‘unprovoked violation’
Pakistan on Tuesday strongly condemned an Iranian airstrike inside its borders that killed two children, calling it an “unprovoked violation of its airspace” and warning of retaliation.
Iran said it used “precision missile and drone strikes,” to destroy two strongholds of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl, known in Iran as Jaish al-Dhulm, in the Kouh-Sabz (green mountain) area of Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province, according to Iran’s state-aligned Tasnim news agency.
The attack comes after Iran launched missiles in northern Iraq and Syria Monday, in the latest escalation of hostilities over Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, that further risks spiraling into a wider regional conflict.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the attack on its territory killed “two innocent children while injuring three girls,” and warned Iran of “serious consequences.”
It described the airstrike as an “unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran … inside Pakistani territory.”
“It is even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran,” the ministry said.
Following the strike, nuclear-armed Pakistan lodged a “strong protest” with a senior official in Iran’s Foreign Ministry in the Iranian capital Tehran and called on the Iranian charge d’affairs, saying the “responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran.”
The Jaish al-Adl militant group late Tuesday said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had used six attack drones and a number of rockets to destroy two houses where the children and wives of its fighters lived.
In a statement on Telegram, the militants said two small children were killed in the attack, while two women and a teenage girl were seriously injured.
Last month, Iran accused Jaish al-Adl militants of storming a police station in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan, which resulted in the deaths of 11 Iranian police officers, according to Tasnim.
Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, is a separatist militant group that operates on both sides of the border and has previously claimed responsibility for attacks against Iranian targets. Its stated goal is the independence of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province.
The strikes in Pakistan came a day after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched ballistic missiles, targeting what it claimed was a spy base for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad in Erbil, northern Iraq, and at “anti-Iran terror groups” in Syria.
Iran’s attacks will further raise fears that Israel’s war in Gaza could widen into a full-scale war in the Middle East with grave humanitarian, political and economic consequences.
The attacks in Iraq and Syria were condemned by the United States as “reckless” and imprecise, while the United Nations said, “security concerns must be addressed through dialogue, not strikes.”
Iraq said it submitted a complaint to the UN Security Council and the UN on Tuesday. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said there are no Mossad-affiliated centers operating in Erbil in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.