Pakistan launched a series of airstrikes against Iran in response to Tehran's attack. It is reported that at least seven people died — four children and three women.
Pakistan struck the Iranian border
Pakistan said it had struck separatist militant hideouts in Iran, with its forces launching "a series of highly coordinated and highly targeted precision military strikes" in Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan Provinces.
In Islamabad, the operation was called "Marg-Bar-Sarmachar" — a phrase that translates as "death to the partisans".
Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that "several" militants were killed in the operation.
Tehran is demanding an "immediate explanation" from Pakistan over the strikes, Iran's state-run Tasnim news agency reported, citing an official.
CNN reports that the deputy governor of Sistan and Baluchestan province, Alireza Marhamati, said in an interview with state television that at least seven people were killed as a result of the strikes. Three women and four children, who were foreign citizens, were among the dead.
Why Iran attacked Pakistan
A day earlier, Iran said it had used "high-precision missiles and drones" to destroy two strongholds of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchestan province.
Pakistani authorities said the strikes killed two children and wounded several others.
CNN explains that Pakistan and Iran have long been battling militants in the restive Baloch region along their 900-kilometer border.
However, the exchange of blows marks a major escalation and comes amid heightened regional hostilities in the Middle East over Israel's war in Gaza.
