Pakistan says two children were killed and three others injured in strikes by neighboring Iran on Tuesday. Iran said it targeted two bases linked to the militant group Jaish al-Adl, according to a news agency affiliated with the country’s military.
However, Pakistan rejected this, calling it an “illegal act” that could lead to “serious consequences”.
Pakistan is the third country, after Iraq and Syria, to be hit by an Iranian attack within the last few days. A missile attack by Iran on Pakistan is near-unprecedented.
Tuesday’s strike hit a village in the vast south-western province of Balochistan, which borders the two countries.
In a strongly worded statement, Pakistan’s foreign ministry strongly condemned the “unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran”. It called the incident “completely unacceptable”, adding that it was “even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran”.
Pakistan has protested with a “concerned senior official” in Iran’s foreign ministry in its capital city Tehran. It added that “this blatant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and that the responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran”.
Iran had late on Monday launched ballistic missile strikes against targets in Iraq’s northern city of Irbil, prompting condemnation by the US.
The strikes come amid heightened tensions across the Middle East. This is since the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas began on 7 October.
Iran has declared that it does not want to get involved in a wider conflict. However, groups in its so-called “Axis of Resistance” have been carrying out attacks on Israel and its allies.
This is to show solidarity with the Palestinians. Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement has exchanged cross-border fire with Israeli forces.
Shia militias have also launched drones and missiles at US forces in Iraq and Syria. And Yemen’s Houthi rebels have attacked ships in the Red Sea.
Israel has reportedly carried out strikes that killed a Hamas leader in Lebanon and a Revolutionary Guards commander in Syria.
The US meanwhile, has killed an Iraqi militia leader in an air strike in Iraq. It has also bombed Houthi targets in Yemen.
Pakistan and Iran have fought armed separatist groups, including Jaish al-Adl, for decades in the sparsely populated region.
Security on either side of their shared border, which runs for about 900km (559 miles), has been a long-running concern for both governments.
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