Pakistan bombs Iran killing 7 in revenge for drone attack that killed two kids
A Pakistani airstrike on Iran left four children and three women dead — two days after an Iranian drone attack killed another two children inside Pakistan.
The Iranian attack on Tuesday occurred in the Baluchistan province in the southwest of the country, and it immediately led to ruptures in the political ties between both countries.
On Wednesday, before Pakistan's revenge attack, the country withdrew its ambassador to Iran, whose foreign minister claimed that the attack had targeted a militant Sunni group it labeled an "Iranian terrorist group" that was operating across the border in Pakistan. But Islamabad said the attack was a "blatant violation" of the country's airspace, emphasising the way it led to the death of two children.
READ MORE: America and Iran are 'inching closer towards open warfare'
The carnage from the Iranian attack left two children dead and two women and a teen girl injured, it was reported
The wreckage in Iran left four children and three women deadPakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, who announced the withdrawal of Pakistan's ambassador to Tehran, said: "Last night's unprovoked and blatant breach of Pakistan's sovereignty by Iran is a violation of international law and the purposes and principles of the charter of the United Nations." She added that the country also asked the Iranian ambassador, who had been visiting Tehran, not to come back to the country.
Woman who fled dangerous Iran watched 16 people drown in dinghy disaster
Both countries had been rather wary of provoking the other amid the rising tensions, which seemed to explode early on Thursday with Pakistan's retaliatory strike. No information is officially known about the strikes, aside from the fact that they targeted physical locations in Iran. The Times of India reported that they struck a village near the Pakistani border, but that has not been confirmed.
Iran acknowledged the attack, with its state media reporting the death toll. The country had previously stated that its strike on Pakistan was to target Jaish al-Adl, a separatist group it has dubbed terrorists who seek an independent state for the Baluch regions of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.
Iran claimed that the missile it launched was to target members of Jaish al-Adl, a separatist group seeking independence for the Baluch peopleIranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland: "Regarding Pakistan, none of the nationals of our neighbor, brother and friend Pakistan were the target of Iran's drones and missiles. We have discussed them with Pakistan's high-ranking military, security and political officials. Our response is against Iranian terrorists inside Pakistani soil." He continued to defend the strike despite Pakistan's repeated condemnation of the attack.
For all the latest news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to
It acknowledged the attack itself, stating that it killed the two aforementioned children and also wounded two women and a teenage girl. There had been six drones carrying bombs and rockets that struck homes that primarily housed children and the wives of fighters, the organisation said.
Videos shared to social media by Baluch activist group HalVash, which said were shot at the site, show a burning building and two tiny, charred corpses. Pakistani intelligence later reported that those killed were a 6-year-old girl and an 11-month-old baby boy and that the women injured were between 28 and 35. It further stated that some of the drones were launched from Iran and hit a mosque and a house in addition to other buildings.
Iran's Gen. Mohammad Reza Ashtiani said: "We will show reaction to the threat against the Islamic Republic of Iran from any region. The reaction will be corresponding, harsh and strong." He did not name countries as he said so. The Iranian state-sponsored IRNA news agency withdrew without explanation the initial reports that explained Iran's attack on Pakistan and that named Jaish al-Adl, which means "Army of Justice."
The countries have been engaged in an almost Cold War for years, with Iran having a population of mostly Shia Muslims, while Pakistan boasts mostly Sunni Muslims. The two factions of the Islamic religion have had tense relations for centuries. It also doesn't help that both countries are budding nuclear powers, with Pakistan boasting a few nuclear warheads and Iran hoping to acquire them but having been blocked for years by deals with the US and other states.
Pakistan is currently at the height of its election season, with a vote scheduled in just three weeks, and it is also dealing with the usual regional tensions with India, its neighbour to the east. The tensions now add to the conglomeration of violence that has begun to plague the Middle East and Western Asia once more amid the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas and the increasing tensions and strikes between Yemen's Houthis and the US.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
