TEHRAN, Jan 19 (NNN-IRNA) – An Iranian provincial official said yesterday, 10 Pakistanis were killed, in strikes by Pakistan’s army, on Iran’s south-eastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
While elaborating on the details of the strikes earlier in the day, that targeted a border village near Iran’s Saravan County, Sistan and Baluchestan Deputy Governor for Security and Law Enforcement, Alireza Marhamati, said, the attacks, which were carried out by three drones at around 04:30 a.m. (0100 GMT), destroyed four residential houses.
When asked to comment on the Pakistani strikes earlier in the day, Iranian Interior Minister, Ahmad Vahidi said, nine foreigners were killed in a “blast” in the south-eastern border village.
Vahidi said, the victims included four children, three women and two men, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
The foreigners were killed in a “blast” that had occurred in a village around three to four kilometres off the common border with Pakistan, he said.
The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the attack in a statement yesterday, saying, the country “undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran.”
It added that “a number of terrorists” were killed in the operation.
The Pakistani ministry stressed that, the “terrorists” under attack were of Pakistani origin and called themselves “Sarmachars,” which is a term for guerrillas, and used by the militants operating in the cross-border region.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, yesterday condemned the Pakistani strikes in a statement, saying, the ministry had summoned the Pakistani charge d’affaires in Tehran to voice Iran’s official protest and request an explanation from the Pakistani government regarding the incident.
The Pakistani strike followed Iranian attacks on “terrorist bases” in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Tuesday, which, according to Pakistan, had killed two Pakistani children. Following the Iranian attacks, Pakistan condemned “Iran’s violation of its airspace” and recalled its ambassador from Iran.– NNN-IRNA
