China on Wednesday urged Pakistan and Iran to show “restraint”, after Islamabad denounced what it described as the “unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran”.
According to a statement released by the Foreign Office (FO) after midnight, strikes in Pakistani territory resulted in “deaths of two innocent children while injuring of three girls”.
While the FO did not mention the location of the incident, Iranian state media said the attack took place in the border town of Panjgur in Balochistan.
Iran’s semi-official
Tasnim news agency said the “focal point of this operation was the region known as Kouh-Sabz (green mountain)” in Balochistan.
“Two key strongholds of the Jaysh al-Dhulm (Jaish al-Adl) terrorist group in Pakistan” were “specifically targeted and successfully demolished by a combination of missile and drone attacks”, the
Tasnim news agency said.
Local authorities said they had also received information about such an attack, but had no further details. Reports from the area suggested that a missile hit a mosque, partially damaging it and injuring some people.
According to
AFP, hours before the attack, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar had met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Iran offered no immediate official comment but its state-run
Nour News agency said the attack destroyed the Pakistan headquarters of the Jaish al-Adl.
Further, Pakistan has also not released any further updates on the incident.
Speaking at a regular briefing today, China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said: “We call on both sides to exercise restraint, avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension and work together to maintain peace and stability.”
“We consider both Iran and Pakistan as close neighbours and major Islamic countries,” she added.
It must be noted that both Iran and Pakistan are close partners of Beijing and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — a political and security union of countries spanning much of Eurasia, including China, India and Russia.
Iranian FM claims attack on Pakistan's soil targeted "terrorist group", says "we've talked with Pakistani officials several times".
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