Tehran: Pakistan's army on Thursday (January 18) said it carried out precision strikes in Iran using killer drones, rockets, loitering munitions and stand-off weapons that struck "terrorist" groups Balochistan Liberation Army and the Balochistan Liberation Front. Eyewitness video taken in a village in Iran, near Saravan showed villagers standing in rubble surrounded by severely damaged buildings, following the strikes.
Reuters was able to confirm the location as a village near Saravan from the position and shape of the buildings seen in the video which matched a television report from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting showing the aftermath of the strikes. The metal units and design on the door seen in the videos also matched other clips uploaded to social media showing the same scene.
Watch: Video of Pakistan attack on Iran
Pakistan said maximum care was taken to avoid collateral damage and urged "dialogue and cooperation" in resolving issues between the two "brotherly countries." Pakistan's strikes came two days after Iranian missiles and drones targeted what its state media said were two bases of the militant group Jaish al Adl.
Nearly two days after Iran carried out a missile and drone attack inside Pakistani territory targetting the militant's hideouts, a similar statement has been released by Islamabad for carrying out a retaliatory military operation. The military operation that Pakistan dubbed "Operation Marg Bar Sarmachar" killed at least seven people including three women and four children in the Sistan-Baluchestan province. However, Iranian news agency, IRNA, reported that the missile and drone hit a village in the city of Saravan, killing at least nine people. Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi claimed all the dead “were foreign nationals”.
According to a statement issued by the military’s media affairs wing, “hideouts used by terrorist organisations namely Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF)” were struck in an intelligence-based operation.
"This morning, Pakistan undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in the Siestan-o-Baluchistan province of Iran. A number of terrorists were killed during the Intelligence-based operation – codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar'. Over the last several years, in our engagements with Iran, Pakistan has consistently shared its serious concerns about the safe havens and sanctuaries enjoyed by Pakistani-origin terrorists calling themselves Sarmachars on the ungoverned spaces inside Iran. Pakistan also shared multiple dossiers with concrete evidence of the presence and activities of these terrorists. However, because of a lack of action on our serious concerns, these so-called Sarmachars continued to spill the blood of innocent Pakistanis with impunity."
(With inputs from agency)
