Pakistan recalls ambassador to Iran over air strike that killed two people
Pakistan has recalled its ambassador to Tehran, a day after Iran launched air strikes on the country that it claimed targeted bases for a militant Sunni separatist group.
Islamabad denounced the attack in the south-western Baluchistan province as a "blatant violation" of its airspace, and said it had killed two children.
Tuesday's strike has imperilled diplomatic relations between the two neighbours, but both sides appeared wary of provoking the other.
Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan have long regarded each other with suspicion over militant attacks.
The attack also threatens to further ignite violence in a Middle East unsettled by Israel's ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Iran launched strikes late on Monday in Iraq and Syria over a suicide bombing claimed by the so-called Islamic State that killed more than 90 people earlier this month. Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson for Pakistan's foreign ministry, announced that Islamabad is recalling the country's ambassador to Iran over the strikes. "Last night's unprovoked and blatant breach of Pakistan's sovereignty by Iran is a violation of international law and the purposes and principles of the charter of the United Nations," she said in a televised address.
Ms Baloch added that Pakistan asked the Iranian ambassador, who was visiting Tehran when the attack took place, not to return. Iran did not immediately acknowledge Pakistan's decision.
Iranian state media reports, which were later withdrawn without explanation, said the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard targeted bases belonging to the militant group Jaish al-adl, or the "Army of Justice".
The group, which seeks an independent Baluchistan and has spread across Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, acknowledged the assault in a statement shared online.
Six bomb-carrying drones and rockets struck homes that the militants claim housed children and wives of their fighters. Jaish al-adl said the attack killed two children and injured two women and a teenage girl, information which was confirmed by Pakistani intelligence.