Pakistani security forces have struck "terrorist centers" in Iran with precision, Paralel.Az reports citing CNN.

Several explosions were heard Thursday morning inside Iran’s southwestern Sistan and Baluchistan province near the town of Saravan, according to the province’s deputy governor, Iranian state media IRNA reported.

Security officials are investigating, IRNA said. CNN has reached out to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Both Pakistan and Iran have long fought militants in the restive Baloch region along their 900-kilometer (560-mile) border but the latest incident marks a major escalation between the two neighboring powers and comes as regional hostilities in the Middle East mount over Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

Pakistan’s missile launch comes a day after Iran said it used “precision missile and drone strikes,” to destroy two strongholds of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province, according to Iran’s state-aligned Tasnim news agency.

The strikes killed two children and wounded several others, according to local officials and Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, which described the attack as an “unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran” and warned Iran of “serious consequences.”

It also kicked off a diplomatic spat with Pakistan on Wednesday recalling its ambassador from Iran and suspending all Iranian high-level visits.

A spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan should not return from a current visit to Iran and warned “Pakistan reserves the right to respond to this illegal act.”

Iran has defended the strikes and appeared to seek to calm tensions with its nuclear-powdered neighbor.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said his country only targeted Iranian “terrorists” on Pakistan soil and that “none of the nationals of the friendly country of Pakistan were targeted by missiles and drones of Iran.”

A foreign ministry spokesperson earlier defended the strikes as a “precise and targeted” operation to deter security threats.

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Pakistani security forces have struck "terrorist centers" in Iran with precision, a security official told Xinhua on Thursday morning, Paralel.Az reports.

Sources from Pakistan's armed forces said that all targets were hit precisely.

"We hit the confirmed terrorists. In our view all terrorists are our targets irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, or sect," added the security official.

Sources from the Pakistani government told Xinhua that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will issue a statement about the recent development.