At least nine people have been killed after Pakistan fired a salvo of retaliatory drones and rockets across the Iranian border following attacks on their own soil two days ago.
Iranian media said several missiles hit a village in the Sistan-Baluchestan province that borders Pakistan, causing a number of civilian deaths, while Pakistan said they had struck separatist Baloch militants.
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 erupted on 7 October.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry described the attacks as a “series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts”.
Iran said on Tuesday it had hit targets inside Pakistan that it alleged were bases of Jaish al Adl (JAA). All the targeted groups are ethnically Baloch, but it was not clear if JAA has links with the other two.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan said civilians were hit and two children killed, warning of consequences for which Tehran would be responsible.