Pakistan attacks “terrorist hideouts” in Iran as neighbors trade fire

Pakistan carried out “a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes” in Iran early Thursday, its foreign ministry said in a statement. The attacks came two days after Iran conducted similar strikes in Pakistan.

“This morning’s action was taken in light of credible intelligence of impending large-scale terrorist activities,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in the statement, calling the strikes “a manifestation of Pakistan’s unflinching resolve to protect and defend its national security against all threats.”

Thursday’s attack appeared to have targeted the Baluch Liberation Army, an ethnic separatist group that has operated in the border region between Pakistan and Iran for over 20 years, The Associated Press reported. The death toll from the Pakistani missile strike stood at nine, according to the deputy governor of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, who said on Iranian state TV that four children, three women and two men were killed in the early morning attack.

Read more: CBS News