https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/18/middleeast/pakistan-targets-locations-iran-intl-hnk/index.htmlIslamabad, Pakistan CNN —
Pakistan carried out a series of deadly military strikes on what it said were separatist militant hideouts inside Iran, in the latest incident across their shared border that has sent tensions between the two neighbors soaring.
The new strikes mean both Pakistan and Iran have now taken the extraordinary step of attacking militants on each other’s soil this week at a time of expanding conflict in the Middle East and wider region.
Islamabad said Thursday its forces launched a “series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes” in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province as part of an operation called “Marg Bar Sarmachar” — a phrase which loosely translates to “death to the guerrilla fighters.”
A “number” of militants were killed during the operation, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry added.
Tehran demanded “an immediate explanation” from Pakistan over the strikes, Iranian state-aligned Tasnim news agency reported, citing an official.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, who is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, and caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, who is visiting Uganda, will cut their trips short and return home.
