ISLAMABAD, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Pakistan used killer drones and rockets to strike separatist Baloch militants inside Iran on Thursday, Pakistani authorities 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 erupted 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 to the World Economic Forum in Davos and return home.
"The precision strikes were carried out using killer drones, rockets, loitering munitions and stand-off weapons," a Pakistani military statement said. It said the targets were bases used by the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) and the associated Baloch Liberation Army.
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.
Islamabad recalled its ambassador from Iran on Wednesday in protest against a "blatant breach" of its sovereignty.
Photo from Reuters
