UPDATES WITH IRAN’S PROTEST, REVISES HEADLINE, LEAD
By Syed Zafar Mehdi
TEHRAN (AA) – Iran on Thursday summoned Pakistan’s chargé d'affaires to protest missile strikes on a border village in southwestern Sistan-Baluchestan province.
State news agency IRNA said the chargé d'affaires was summoned to the Foreign Ministry asking for an explanation about the incident.
IRNA, citing an official, said earlier Thursday that authorities had demanded an "immediate explanation" from the Pakistani government about the "incidents" near the city of Saravan in Sistan-Baluchestan.
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 (0100 GMT) on Thursday 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.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry in a statement said it undertook a series of "highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes" against terrorist hideouts in the Iranian province, killing a number of terrorists.
The move came after Iran on Tuesday launched attacks in Pakistan targeting what it described as bases for the militant group Jaish al-Adl in the border town of Panjgur in Balochistan, prompting strong condemnation from Islamabad and downgrading of diplomatic ties.