Pak Warns Iran After Retaliatory Strikes

Pakistan carried out strikes against “terrorist hideouts” in Iran on Thursday

New Delhi:

Pakistan on Thursday requested Iran to show “restraint” and “avoid” actions that could escalate tensions between the two neighbors, sources said.

Pakistan’s message to Iran came after it carried out strikes against “terrorist hideouts” in the Iranian province of Siestan-o-Baluchistan. The retaliatory strikes came days after Iran attacked “terrorist targets” in Pakistan, an attack that Islamabad claimed killed two children.

“Pakistan has appealed to Iran to exercise restraint and not to take any further steps which may worsen the situation,” sources said.

Pakistan carried out strikes against “terrorist hideouts” in Iran on Thursday, a day after warning Tehran of “serious consequences” over its attack on the Balochi group Jaish al-Adl’s headquarters in Pakistani territory.

In a statement, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said that “a number of terrorists” were killed during the intelligence-based operation codenamed “Marg Bar Sarmachar”.

Seven people including four children and three women were killed in Pakistani strikes, Iranian media reported.

“This morning Pakistan undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Siestan-o-Baluchistan province of Iran,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in an official statement.

Calling Iran a “brotherly country”, Islamabad said that the action was a “manifestation of Pakistan’s unflinching resolve” to protect and defend its national security against all threats.

“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 Ministry said, adding that Islamabad “fully respects” the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran.

“Over the last several years, in our engagements with Iran, Pakistan has consistently shared its serious concerns about the safe havens and sanctuaries enjoyed by Pakistani origin terrorists calling themselves ‘Sarmachars’ on the ungoverned spaces inside Iran,” the statement read further.

Pakistan also said that it shared multiple dossiers with concrete evidence of the presence and activities of these terrorists.

“However, because of lack of action on our serious concerns, these so-called Sarmachars continued to spill the blood of innocent Pakistanis with impunity. This morning’s action was taken in light of credible intelligence of impending large scale terrorist activities by these so called Sarmachars,” it added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran targeted two bases of Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan’s Balochistan province with missiles and drones.

Condemning Iran’s “violation of its airspace”, Pakistan had warned the neighboring country that such actions can have “serious consequences”.

Jaish al-Adl, which is blacklisted by Iran as a terrorist group, was formed in 2012 and has carried out several attacks on Iranian soil in recent years.

The tit-for-tat responses come at a time of rising tensions in the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war and attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.