Hours after Iran said that its “precision missile and drone strikes” targeted Sunni militant group Jaish al Adl in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province late on Tuesday (Jan 16), Islamabad confirmed that its airspace was indeed violated. Pakistan condemned the Iranian airstrike inside its borders and claimed that it killed two children.
The Iranian airstrikes inside Pakistan come weeks after Tehran accused Jaish al-Adl militants of storming a police station in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan, which killed 11 Iranian police officers.
Earlier on Tuesday (Jan 16), Iranian media reported that the country’s forces destroyed two strongholds of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl, known in Iran as Jaish al-Dhulm, in the Kouh-Sabz (green mountain) area of Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province. Iranian media described the airstrikes as having targeted ‘terror group’s bases in Balochistan’.
The Jaish al-Adl militant group late on Tuesday reportedly said in a Telegram post that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had used six attack drones and several rockets to destroy two houses where the children and wives of its militants lived.
Pakistan’s response
Pakistan described Iranian airstrikes as an “unprovoked violation of its airspace” and warned of retaliation.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said that the attack on its territory killed “two innocent children while injuring three girls,” and warned Iran of “serious consequences”.
“It is even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran,” the ministry said.
Pakistan also lodged a “strong protest” with a senior official in Iran’s Foreign Ministry in Tehran and called on the Iranian charge d’affairs, saying the “responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran.”
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The Iranian strikes in Pakistan came a day after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched ballistic missiles, targeting what it claimed was a spy base for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad in Erbil, northern Iraq, a claim Iraq later denounced by stating there was no Mossad base in Iraq.
About Jaish al-Adl
Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, is a separatist militant group that operates both in Iran and Pakistan and has previously claimed responsibility for attacks against Iranian targets. Its stated goal is the independence of overall Shia majority Iran’s only Sunni-majority Sistan and Baluchestan province.
(With inputs from agencies)
