According to a
statement released by the Foreign Office (FO) after midnight, strikes in Pakistani territory resulted in deaths of two
innocent children while injuring of three girls.
While the Pakistan FO did not mention the
location of the incident, Iranian state media said the attack took place in the
border town of Panjgur in Balochistan.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency
said the focal point of this operation was the region known as Kouh-Sabz (green
mountain) in Balochistan.
“Two key
strongholds of the Jaysh al-Dhulm (Jaish al-Adl) terrorist group in Pakistan
were specifically targeted and
successfully demolished by a combination of missile and drone attacks”,
the Tasnim news agency said.
Reports from the
area suggested that a missile hit a mosque, partially damaging it and injuring
some people.
According to AFP,
hours before the attack, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar had met
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Iran offered no immediate official comment but its
state-run Nour News agency said the attack destroyed the Pakistan
headquarters of the Jaish al-Adl.
Speaking at a
regular briefing today, China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said, “We call on both sides to exercise
restraint, avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension and work
together to maintain peace and stability.”
“We consider both
Iran and Pakistan as close neighbours and major Islamic countries,” she added.
It must be noted
that both Iran and Pakistan are close partners of Beijing and members of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — a political and security union of countries
spanning much of Eurasia, including China, India and Russia.
‘Unacceptable and
condemnable’
In a post on social
media platform X, caretaker Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai
expressed disappointment and said terrorism was a common threat to all
countries in the region that required coordinated action.
“Such acts of air
space violations by Iran undermine neighbourly relation, trust and renewed
trade linkages established with Balochistan,” he added.
Pakistan has acted
with restraint whenever there’s been turbulence on the Pak-Iran border by
terrorist groups, and always sought collective responses to the transnational
challenge of terrorism.
Last month, at
least 11 Iranian police officers were killed in an attack overnight on a police
station in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan. Iranian Interior
Minister Ahmad Vahidi, while visiting the site, had urged Pakistan to prevent
terrorist groups from establishing bases within its borders, the official news
agency of Iran reported at the time. He had also noted that initial
investigations suggested the assailants had entered Iran from Pakistan.
