Pakistan conducted strikes inside Iran, targeting separatist Baloch militants: Foreign ministry

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan conducted strikes inside Iran on Thursday (Jan 18) targeting separatist Baloch militants, the Pakistani foreign ministry said, two days after Tehran said it had attacked the bases of another group within Pakistani territory.

Iranian media said several missiles hit a village in the Sistan-Baluchestan province that borders Pakistan, killing at least nine people. Earlier reports said three women and four children were killed, all non-Iranians.

The neighbours have had rocky ties in the past, but the strikes are the highest-profile cross-border intrusions in recent years and come amid growing worries about instability in the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas started on Oct 7.

"A number of terrorists were killed during the intelligence-based operation," Pakistan's foreign ministry said, describing it as a "series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts".

"Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the ministry added in its statement.

"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."

A senior Pakistani security official told Reuters the military was on "extremely" high alert and would meet any "misadventure" from the Iranian side forcefully.

Iran strongly condemns the strikes, its foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, said, adding that Pakistan's charge d'affaires, its most senior diplomat in Tehran, had been summoned to give an explanation.

In Islamabad, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-haq Kakar would cut short a visit