At least seven dead, three of them children, after a Pakistani attack against "terrorists" in southeastern Iran

MADRID, 18 (EUROPA PRESS)

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has confirmed attacks against positions of suspected terrorist groups in the province of Sistan and Balochistan, in southeastern Iran, in which at least seven people have died, including four children, and after having promised to respond to the Iranian bombings on Tuesday against another terrorist group in the Pakistani region of Balochistan, which borders the aforementioned Iranian province.

"Pakistan this morning carried out a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in the Iranian province of Sistan and Balochistan," the ministry published on its website.

In addition, it has confirmed the death of "several terrorists" during an Intelligence operation called 'Marg Bar Sarmachar', which sought to neutralize the group calling itself 'Sarmachars', considered terrorist by Islamabad.

For his part, the deputy governor of Sistan and Balochistan, Alireza Marhamati, reported about an explosion near the city of Saravan at 4:30 a.m. (local time) in which three women and four children were reported to have died, none of them. They are Iranian citizens, as specified by the Iranian news agency IRNA.

Pakistan has justified this bombing by Iran's "lack of action" in the face of its "serious concerns" about the amount of evidence about the presence of Pakistani terrorists on Iranian territory.

"This action is a manifestation of Pakistan's unwavering determination to protect and defend its national security against all threats. (...) Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The sole objective of the act today was the search for one's own security and national interest," reads the Pakistani letter.

Furthermore, he recalled that he considers Iran as "a brother country" that he "respects and admires", despite the fact that a few hours earlier he had shown his total rejection of similar actions by Tehran, and they have even called his ambassador for consultations. in Iran and threatened not to let the Iranian diplomatic envoy, who is visiting Iran, return to Islamabad.

On the previous day, Iran's Foreign Minister, Hosein Amirabdolahian, spoke by telephone with his Pakistani counterpart, Jalil Abbas Jilani, to whom he conveyed that "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan is very important for Iran."

Iran's attacks on Pakistani territory came hours after Amirabdolahian met Pakistan's interim Prime Minister Anuar ul Haq Kakar in Switzerland to discuss counterterrorism and other bilateral issues. In addition, the navies of Iran and Pakistan began joint maneuvers on Tuesday in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, including the deployment of warships for tactical maneuvers aimed at improving their coordination, as reported by Iranian media.