(MENAFN- AzerNews) Several explosions were heard in southeastern Iran early
Thursday, as Pakistan confirmed it struck "terrorist hideouts" in
Sistan-Baluchestan province, Azernews reports,
citing Anadolu Agency.
Alireza Marhameti, the deputy governor for security affairs in
Sistan-Baluchestan, told state TV that several explosions were
heard at around 4:30 a.m. local time in one of the border villages
of Saravan County.
He said the explosions were the result of a missile strike by
Pakistan, which killed three women and four children, all of them
non-Iranians.
Another explosion was heard near the city of Saravan, in which
no one was injured, Marhameti added.
Earlier, state news agency IRNA, citing the provincial deputy
governor, reported a series of explosions in multiple areas around
the city of Saravan.
According to Pakistan's Foreign Office, it undertook a series of
"highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military
strikes against terrorist hideouts," saying that a number of
terrorists were killed. It dubbed the intelligence-based operation
as "Marg Bar (death to) Sarmachar." Islamabad says Pakistani-origin
terrorists on "ungoverned spaces" in Iran call themselves
Sarmachar.
The move comes two days after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC) launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at
southwestern Pakistan's Balochistan province, allegedly targeting
the headquarters of the Jaish al-Adl militant group.
Jaish al-Adl is an Iranian militant group that is believed to
have bases in the border region of Pakistan, especially Balochistan
and has claimed responsibility for many terrorist attacks inside
Pakistan.
Late on Wednesday, a senior IRGC officer was shot dead in the
province, the responsibility of which was claimed by the group on
its Telegram channel.
Tuesday's strikes by the IRGC were said to be in response to the
group's December attack on a police station in the city of Rask in
Sistan-Baluchestan, which killed 11 policemen.
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, speaking at
the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, claimed the attacks
were targeted at the Iranian terrorist group, not civilians.
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