Pakistan stocks fall 1.7% after Israel strikes Iran

The Pakistan Stock Exchange was down by more than 1.7% during intraday trade on Friday after Israel said it targeted Iran's nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders at the start of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.

The benchmark KSE-100 index was down by 1.7% or 2,100 points to trade at 121,979 points shortly after trading started.

Iranian media and witnesses reported explosions including at the country's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanaz while Israel declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes.

Iranian state television reported that Hossein Salami, the chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards corps, had been killed and the unit's headquarters in Tehran had been hit. Several children had been killed in a strike on a residential area in the capital.

Nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi in multiple Israeli strikes, Iranian media reported.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel will receive "harsh punishment".

All Asian markets opened lower and crude oil spiked by more than 10%.