Pakistan-Iran attacks updates | Death toll in Pakistan strikes on Iran rises to nine

Russia’s foreign ministry on Thursday called on Iran and Pakistan to show maximum restraint and solve their differences through diplomacy or risk playing into the hands of those who would like to see the region descend into chaos. 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a statement noted that the two countries are part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a grouping that Russia helped found.

“It is regrettable that this is happening between friendly SCO countries, with which we are developing partnership relations. Further aggravation of the situation plays into the hands of those who are not interested in peace, stability and security in the region,” said Zakharova.

Any anti-terrorist operation on another country’s sovereign territory had to be carried out in agreement and coordination with the authorities of that country, she said. - Reuters

Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul-Haq-Kakar, who is in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, cut his trip short to return home.

A deputy governor of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, Ali Reza Marhamati, gave the casualty figures from Thursday’s strike, saying the dead included three women, four children and two men near the town of Saravan along the border in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province. He added that the dead were not Iranian citizens. - AP

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry described their attack Thursday as “a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes.”

“This morning’s action was taken in light of credible intelligence of impending large scale terrorist activities,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “This action is a manifestation of Pakistan’s unflinching resolve to protect and defend its national security against all threats.”

Pakistan’s military described using “killer drones, rockets, loitering munitions and standoff weapons” in the attack. Stand-off weapons are missiles fired from aircraft at a distance — likely meaning Pakistan’s fighter jets didn’t enter Iranian airspace. - AP

Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry called for Iran, Iraq and Pakistan to show restraint and common sense after an escalation of tensions in the region, most recently with Pakistan conducting strikes inside Iran.

“We believe the problems should be resolved with an understanding of friendship and brotherhood, based on mutual respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries,” the Ministry said in a statement.

Reuters

Pakistan military said it used multiple weapons, including killer drones, to carry out effective strikes against hideouts inside Iran used by militants of two leading Baloch terrorist groups responsible for recent attacks in the country.

“The precision strikes were carried out using killer drones, rockets, loitering munitions and stand-off weapons. Maximum care was taken to avoid collateral damage,” according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.

It said that “hideouts used by terrorist organisations namely Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) were successfully struck in an intelligence-based operation codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’.” The targeted hideouts were being used by notorious terrorists including Dosta alias Chairman, Bajjar alias Soghat, Sahil alias Shafaq, Asghar alias Basham and Wazir alias Wazi, amongst others, it said.

PTI

Pakistan’s military is on “extremely” high alert and anymore “misadventure” from the Iranian side will be met forcefully, a top Pakistani security source said, amid escalating tensions between the neighbours.

Reuters

The death toll from Pakistan strikes on a border region in Iran’s southeast rose to nine, state media reported, up from seven earlier.

“Two men were also killed in the missile attack this morning in one of the border villages of Saravan, bringing the death toll to nine,” the official IRNA news agency said quoting Alireza Marhamati, deputy provincial governor of Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province.

AFP

Iran summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires following missile strike that hit a border region and killed at least seven people, local media reported.

“Following the early morning attack by Pakistan on a border village in Sistan Baluchistan province, an hour ago the Pakistani charge d’affaires in Tehran was summoned to the Foreign Ministry for an explanation,” Tasnim news agency said.

AFP

On December 15, 2023, a police station in Rask in Iran’s Sistan Baluchestan province, roughly 60 km from the Pakistani border, came under attack by a number of gunmen. At least 11 Iranian security personnel were killed in the attack, which was claimed by the Jaish al-Adl (the Army of Justice), a Sunni Islamist group operating in the border region that has been designated as a terror outfit by Tehran. 

Read here

Beijing said it was willing to mediate between Pakistan and Iran following an exchange of fire against militant targets in their border region, including a strike that Tehran said killed at least seven civilians.

“The Chinese side sincerely hopes that the two sides can exercise calm and restraint and avoid an escalation of tension,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press conference.

“We are also willing to play a constructive role in de-escalating the situation if both sides so wish,” she said.

AFP