Pakistan called for talks with its “brotherly” neighbour Iran on Thursday after firing missiles and sending drones across the border in a rare attack on Iranian soil.

The retaliatory strike, a day after Iran carried out a similar attack aimed at Pakistan, risked further escalating tensions on the border.

But nuclear-armed Pakistan insisted maximum care was taken when hitting a “terrorist” group in Iran and urged “dialogue and cooperation” in resolving issues between the two “brotherly countries”.

The tit-for-tat strikes on militant groups are unlikely to develop into conflict between Iran and Pakistan. However, the two countries have withdrawn ambassadors and summoned diplomats as a warning.

Iran and Pakistan share a common enemy across both their frontiers in the Jaish al-Ad militant group. But cross-border strikes are uncommon. The latest attacks come as Iran demonstrates its power and reach with air strikes across the Middle East.

Pakistan’s army said its attack used drones, rockets, loitering munitions and stand-off weapons to hit the Balochistan Liberation Army and the Balochistan Liberation Front. Iran said seven civilians, including children, were killed in the attacks.

The cross-border attacks add to multiple crises across the Middle East, with Israel waging a war against Hamas in Gaza and Huthi rebels in Yemen attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea. 

The Iranian strike on Pakistan was its third direct attack on foreign soil in two days.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said of its own strikes: “This morning, Pakistan undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts.”

It said the action was taken in light of “credible intelligence of impending large-scale terrorist activities”, adding that “a number of terrorists were killed”.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that at least three women and four children were killed in blasts around the city of Saravan in the country’s south-east.

An “informed official” was quoted as telling state media: “Iran demands an immediate explanation from the Pakistani authorities about this incident”.

Tehran and Islamabad frequently accuse each other of allowing militants to operate from the other’s territory to launch attacks, but it is rare that official forces on either side engage.

Islamabad’s foreign ministry said: “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.”

Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister, will cut short his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, “in view of the ongoing developments”, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the foreign ministry spokesman, said.

Hours before the strike, Mr Kakar had met the Iranian foreign minister on the sidelines of the WEF gathering.

The Pakistani attack comes after Iran staged missile and drone attacks on the Jaish al-Adl group. Tehran also launched attacks in Iraq and Syria against what it called “anti-Iranian terrorist groups”.

Islamabad said the strikes in its territory killed “two innocent children”.

The Pakistani government called the strike an “unprovoked and blatant breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty” and recalled its ambassador to Iran and blocked Tehran’s envoy – currently in Iran – from returning to the country.

China, a close partner of Iran and Pakistan, urged restraint, with Mao Ning, the foreign ministry spokesman, saying on Wednesday that both should “avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension”.

The United States, meanwhile, condemned the Iranian strikes in Pakistan, Iraq and Syria.

Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, said Tehran had violated the “sovereign borders of three of its neighbours in just the past couple of days”.

Pakistan has not specified where Tuesday’s Iranian strike took place but Pakistani media said it was near Panjgur in southwest Balochistan province, where the countries share a border of nearly 1,000 kilometres (621 miles).

The Pakistani military has been waging a decades-long fight against ethnic Baloch separatists in the province, the largest but poorest region of the country.