Pakistan’s military is on “extremely” high alert and any further “misadventure” from the Iranian side will be dealt with forcefullya senior Pakistani security source said today, amid escalating tensions between neighboring countries.

Two days after Iranian strikes on its soil, Pakistan announced today that conducted overnight “strikes against terrorist hideouts” in Iran that killed 9 people, including 4 children and 3 women, according to Iranian state media.

“This morning Pakistan conducted a series of precision, highly coordinated and targeted strikes against terrorist hideouts in Sistan-Baluchistan province” in southeastern Iran, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The measure (…) was taken on the basis of credible information about impending terrorist activities on a large scale,” the Pakistani ministry said, adding that “a number of terrorists” had been killed.

“Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Pakistani foreign ministry also assured, adding that “the sole objective of today’s action was to work for the security of Pakistan and in our national interest, which they are of vital importance and cannot be compromised”.

At least 9 people were killed, including 4 children and 3 women “all of non-Iranian nationality” in border villages from the strikes, Iranian state media reported, citing the deputy governor of Sistan-Baluchistan province, Alireza Marhamati.

A Pakistani intelligence source told Reuters that the strikes were carried out by military aircraft.

“Our forces conducted strikes targeting Baloch militants inside Iran,” the official said from Islamabad.

“The targeted militants belong to the BLF,” he added, referring to the Baloch Liberation Front, which seeks independence for Pakistan’s western province of Baluchistan (Balochistan).

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Iran strongly condemned the strikes, adding that Pakistan’s charge d’affaires in Tehran had been summoned for an explanation.

Tehran had announced on Tuesday night that it had carried out strikes against “terrorist” positions on the territory of Pakistan, and Islamabad had reacted yesterday Wednesday, calling this attack “completely unacceptable” and unjustified, which resulted in the loss of the lives of two children.

Pakistan, which is due to hold general elections on February 8, also recalled its ambassador from Tehran and decided to block the return of Iran’s ambassador to Islamabad, who is currently in the country.

According to Iran’s Mehr news agency, the Iranian “missile and drone” attack targeted the general headquarters in Pakistan of the jihadist group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice in Arabic) in response to an “attack on security” by Iran.

In December, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for an attack on a police station in Rasq, Sistan-Baluchistan, in which 11 Iranian policemen were killed.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also said yesterday that “Jaish al-Adl is a terrorist organization that acts against the common security of the two countries.”

Iran and Pakistan often accuse each other of allowing insurgent groups to operate from their countries’ soil to launch attacks, but their armed forces are rarely involved.

The strikes come as the Middle East is rocked by the war between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip and attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels against merchant ships in the Red Sea.