Pakistan launches ‘precise’ military strikes on Iran in response to bombing

Islamabad, Pakistan — Pakistan hit Iran with “highly coordinated” military strikes on Thursday morning, a little more than 24 hours after Iranian air strikes in Balochistan, further raising tensions between the neighbours and sparking fears of a broader conflict.

On Thursday morning, according to a statement from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan conducted what it called an “intelligence-based operation” against hideouts of armed groups in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of Iran.

Codenamed “Marg Bar Sarmachar” (Death to Saramchar), the so-called operation resulted in the death of a “number of terrorists”, Pakistan said, without specifying how many people had been killed.

The response comes a day after Iran launched air strikes using “drones and missiles” against Jaish al-Adl, an armed group, near Panjgur city in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, bordering Iran. Tehran has accused the Jaish al-Adl of multiple attacks in the past.

Pakistan reacted to the Iranian strike – which killed two children and injured three others – by calling it “unacceptable” and said the country reserves the right to respond to this “illegal act”.