QUETTA: A Pakistani paramilitary officer said on Wednesday Iran had attacked a border village inside Pakistan with drones a day earlier, killing two children and injuring three women as the foreign office in Islamabad warned Tehran of “serious consequences” for violating the country’s airspace.
Though the Iranian military and government have not yet officially commented on the assault, reports about it were first published by Iranian media, with Nournews, affiliated with the country’s top security body, saying Iran had attacked militant bases in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. The target of the attack was the Jaish Al-Adl militant group that Iran says has previously mounted attacks on Iranian security forces in the border area with Pakistan.
Abdul Hameed, the in-charge of the paramilitary Levies group in Balochistan’s Panjgur area where the attack took place, said drones were used to target homes in Koh e Baz, a tiny village of a handful of houses some 70 kilometers away from Panjgur city and around 40 kilometers from the mountainous Pak-Iran border. He said the attack took place at 530pm on Tuesday, killing two children between the ages of 7 and 10 and injuring three women who were inside a mud house.
“The Iranian forces launched the attacks with drones, because people in the area said they first heard the sound of the drone flying over them and then the missiles struck their houses,” Hameed told Arab News.
The foreign office condemned the “unprovoked violation of its airspace”.
“This violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty is completely unacceptable and can have serious consequences.”
Pakistan’s statement did not mention the location of the incident, nor the nature of the airspace violation, but said a protest had been lodged with Tehran and the head of the Iranian mission in Islamabad had been called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran,” Pakistan’s statement said, adding that the incident had occurred despite the existence of several channels of communication with Iran.
On Monday, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards also attacked targets in Iraq and Syria with missiles.
Pakistan has a complex relationship with Iran, with which it shares a long border rife with cross-border militant activity.
Relations between the two neighbors are often strained as both sides accuse each other of not doing enough to stamp out militants allegedly sheltering across the border.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Jaish Al-Adl said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had attacked the houses of a number of its members with drones and rockets. The statement did not specify the exact location of the assault but said it took place “in the border mountains of Balochistan.”
“In this criminal attack, two minor children were martyred and two women and a teenage girl were seriously injured,” the group said.
