Pakistan’s retaliatory airstrikes kill nine in Iran

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan launched airstrikes against possible militant hideouts inside Iran on Thursday, killing at least nine people as it retaliated for a similar attack days earlier by Iran and raising tensions with its neighbor as conflict across the region escalates.

The attacks by both Pakistan and Iran on either side of their border appeared to target Baluch militant groups with similar separatist goals. The countries accuse each other of providing a haven to the groups in their respective territories.

The flare-up between Iran and Pakistan comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and on the heels of Iranian airstrikes late Monday in Iraq and Syria. Those airstrikes were in response to a suicide bombing in Iran by Islamic State militants in early January that killed over 90 people.

Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan have regarded each other with suspicion over militant attacks, but analysts say this week’s tit-for-tat strikes were at least partially prompted by internal political pressures.

Iran is dealing with unrest against its theocracy and has faced pressure for action ever since the Islamic State suicide bombing. It is also seeking to flex military power at a time when militant groups it supports in the region — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen — are engaged in the Israeli-palestinian conflict.

Pakistan, meanwhile, could not leave Tuesday’s airstrikes by Iran unchallenged, and it faces a February general election in which its military is a powerful political force.

The U.S., China, the United Nations and others urged the two countries to de-escalate.