Pakistani airstrikes on Iran on Thursday morning killed four children and three women, a local official told Iranian state television. State media said several explosions were heard near Saravan city close to the border of Iran and Pakistan, the AP reports. The strikes early Thursday follow Iran launching strikes into Pakistan on Tuesday night, killing two children and raising tensions between nuclear-armed Islamabad and Tehran. The apparent targets on both sides were insurgent groups whose goal is an independent Baluchistan for ethnic Baluch areas in Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan More from the AP:
- The background: Iran and Pakistan share a 560-mile, largely lawless border where smugglers and militants roam freely. Both countries have suspected each other of supporting, or at least behaving leniently toward some of the groups operating on the other side of the border. Jaish al-Adl, the Sunni separatist group that Iran targeted on Tuesday, is believed to operate out of Pakistan, launching attacks on Iranian security forces. The Baluch Liberation Army, which was formed in 2000 and has launched attacks against Pakistani security forces and Chinese infrastructure projects , is suspected of hiding out in Iran.