HORROR footage has emerged appearing to show the fiery aftermath of Iran's strike on militant bases inside Pakistan that reportedly killed two kids.
Pakistan has slammed Tehran for the "unprovoked" strike - but Iran's military accused the so-called "terrorist" group of attempting to storm their border only weeks ago.
Late on Tuesday, six Iranian bomb-carrying drones and rockets struck the homes of militants belonging to the separatist militant group, Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice).
The group claimed the strikes killed two children and wounded two women and a teenage girl.
A widely-shared video allegedly taken in the immediate aftermath of the attack shows several burning buildings reduced to rubble.
Two charred, small corpses can be seen among the wreckage.
The footage was first shared by local activist group HalVash, but has not been independently verified.
Iran's state media originally claimed its warped terrorist army, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), carried out strikes on the headquarters of Jaish al-Adl - but later withdrew the reports.
A Pakistani intelligence report stated that the two children killed were a 6-year-old girl and an 11-month-old boy.
It also said three or four drones were fired from the Iranian side, hitting a mosque and other buildings, including a house.
Tehran has been fighting Jaish al-Adl in border areas, but a missile-and-drone attack on Pakistan is unprecedented.
Although Iran has offered no immediate official comment, Iran's military has previously accused the "terrorist group" of planning to attack Iran from Pakistan on December 27.
General Sardar Ahmad Ali Gudarzi said that militants from the Pakistani border territory of Baluchistan - where Jaish al-Adl have bases - stormed the border, state news agency Tasnim reported.
He claimed the gunmen, armed with grenades and rockets, attacked border guards who fought them off under "heavy fire" and repelled their assault, killing one.
However, Pakistan has blasted Tuesday's strikes as "unprovoked", "completely unacceptable" and a blatant "violation" of the country's sovereignty.
Today, Pakistan warned of "serious consequences" and furiously recalled its ambassador to Iran, while also blocking Tehran's envoy - currently on a visit home - from returning.
A senior Pakistani security official blasted Iran for not sharing any information prior to the strike.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: "The dangerous precedent set by Iran is destabilising and has reciprocal implications."
This morning, China weighed in on the escalating situation and urged Iran and Pakistan to exercise "restraint".
The seemingly timid reproach by Beijing appears to be an attempt to douse the flaming tensions between its two allies.
China appears to be fearful of a new front opening up that could escalate the Middle East crisis - a powder keg unsettled by Israel's ongoing war against Hamas and Iran-backed Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea.
"We call on both sides to exercise restraint, avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension and work together to maintain peace and stability," China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
Both Tehran and Islamabad are close partners of Beijing and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - a China-led political, economic and defence alliance.
There were signs nuclear-armed Pakistan was trying to contain their anger over the strike, with the country's typically outspoken and nationalistic media covering the strikes with unusual restraint.
Both sides have appeared wary of further provoking the other.
Formed in 2012, the separatist Sunni militant group is blacklisted by Iran as a terrorist group and has carried out several attacks on Iranian soil in recent years.
Iran has long suspected that Sunni-majority Pakistan has been hosting the insurgents, possibly at the behest of its regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia.
Jaish al-Adl has claimed past bombings and kidnapped members of Iran's border police.
In December, suspected members of the group killed 11 people and wounded eight others in a nighttime attack on a police station in southeastern Iran.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has blamed Iran in the past over militant attacks targeting its security forces.
It comes as Iran launched missile attacks on "spy headquarters" and "terrorist" targets in Syria, and in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
Last weekend, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron warned: ";It is hard to think of a time when there has been so much danger and insecurity and instability in the world.
"The lights are absolutely flashing red on the global dashboard," he told
His comments come as experts also warned The Sun that the world is facing its "most dangerous and volatile moment" in history.
It's feared Russia, China, the Middle East, Iran and North Korea are all major flashpoints for an all-out world war - and British troops could be dragged into the mess.
On Monday, a leaked German military report showed Putin's ten-step plan to bring the West to the brink of World War Three.
The secret documents described Putin's possible "path to conflict" which would reach its climax in 2025 on "Day X" when half a million Nato and Russian soldiers face each other.
The bombshell files, obtained by from Germany's Ministry of Defence, laid out exactly how the Kremlin boss might prepare for a hybrid attack on Nato as early as next winter and a full-blown war next summer.
Ex-British tank commander Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told The Sun that while the chilling war plans are a "worst-case scenario", they are "absolutely possible".
He said: "We are in probably the most dangerous and volatile place in the world than we've been... I can't even think of a time in the Cold War."
