Pakistan launches retaliatory airstrikes in Iran after an earlier attack by Tehran, killing 9 people

Digital Desk: Iran on Thursday condemned the retaliation strike by Pakistani missiles that struck a border area early today, killing at least nine people. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani stated that Pakistan's charge d'affaires, or top diplomat in Tehran, had been called in to explain.

"Following the early morning attack by Pakistan on a border village in Sistan Baluchistan province, an hour ago the Pakistani charge d'affaires in Tehran was summoned to the Foreign Ministry for an explanation," according to local media.

Following the attacks, interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar announced today through a spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry that he would be abandoning his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Furthermore, Jalil Abbas Jilani, the acting foreign minister, was leaving his nation on Tuesday after starting an official seven-day trip to Kampala, Uganda, to take part in the Third South Summit and the 19th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

After Tehran undertook similar attacks the day before, raising tensions, the Pakistani military launched targeted strikes against "terrorist hideouts" in Iran.

"A number of terrorists were killed during the intelligence-based operation, a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement, confirming the attack.

The ministry said in its statement that "Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

"The sole objective of today’s act was in pursuit of Pakistan’s own security and national interest, which is paramount and cannot be compromised," stated the statement.

The military in Pakistan was on "extremely" high alert and would respond forcefully to any "misadventure" from the Iranian side, a senior security official told news agency Reuters.

Iran declared on Tuesday that it had struck "militant bases" in Pakistan that were connected to Israel. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran claims that drones and missiles were used to attack two Jaish ul-Adl terror group bases in the province of Balochistan.