Pakistan used killer drones and rockets to strike separatist Baloch militants inside Iran on Thursday, Pakistani authorities said, two days after Tehran said it had attacked the bases of another group within Pakistani territory.

Iranian media said several missiles hit a village in the Sistan-Baluchestan province that borders Pakistan, killing at least nine people. 

On Thursday morning, according to a statement from Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan conducted what it called an “intelligence-based operation” against hideouts of armed groups in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of Iran.

“This morning Pakistan undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Sistan-o-Baluchistan province of Iran. A number of terrorists were killed during the Intelligence-based operation,” the statement reads.

Meanwhile, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran's foreign minister, said that their goal in carrying out missile attacks on Pakistani soil was to target the Jaish al-Adl group.

"Pakistan is our neighbor, friend and brother country, it was not the target of Iran's drones and missiles. The group known as Jaish al-Adl, which is an Iranian terrorist group, has taken refuge in Pakistan and we have repeatedly discussed this issue with Pakistan’s high-ranking military, security and political officials,” Iran's foreign minister said.

Iranian media outlets quoting a security source reported that in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan Province, 7 foreign nationals, including 3 women and 4 children were killed in a missile attack launched by Pakistan on a border village.

Iran strongly condemned the strikes, its foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, said, adding that Pakistan's charge d'affaires, its most senior diplomat in Tehran, had been summoned to give an explanation.

In the meantime, the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in a statement said the recent violence between Iran and Pakistan is alarming, and called on the two neighboring countries to “exercise restraint.”

The Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, wrote in the statement: “In light of the region's newfound peace and stability after protracted imposed wars and instability, both sides should direct efforts towards further strengthening regional stability and resolving disputes through diplomatic channels and dialogue.”

According to international relations analysts, if Iran and Pakistan continue to launch missile attacks on each other's territory, there is a possibility for a large-scale conflict in the region.

"It is beneficial for Afghanistan that the region is peaceful, and it is Afghanistan's duty to propose this, if Afghanistan can do something to ensure peace,” said Tariq Farhadi, a political analyst.

This comes as recently the Indian Foreign Minister visited Iran, and the Iranian ambassador and special representative to Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, visited Pakistan, where they discussed the situation in the region, especially Afghanistan.

China said it is willing to mediate between Pakistan and Iran following an exchange of fire against terrorist targets in their border region.