Unprecedented: Iran airstrike on terrorist group in Pakistan

By Team Asianet Newsable | First Published Jan 17, 2024, 8:44 AM IST

The airstrike targeted bases of the terrorist group Jaish al-Adl, escalating tensions between Tehran and Islamabad. Iran claimed the attack was aimed at combating the group, which operates primarily in Pakistan

Two children lost their lives, and three others sustained injuries in what Pakistan claims to be an "illegal" airstrike conducted by Iran. The incident has sparked heightened tensions between the two nations, prompting Pakistan's foreign ministry to summon Tehran's top diplomat in Islamabad to express vehement protest against the alleged “unprovoked violation of its airspace.”

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency and state television initially reported the use of missiles and drones in the strikes on Pakistani soil. Press TV, the English-language arm of Iranian state television, attributed the attack to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. However, confusion ensued as state media reports on the incident soon disappeared.

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Iran stated that the target of its attacks was the bases of the terrorist group Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni extremist group operating primarily in Pakistan and known as the “Army of Justice.” The group has a history of claiming responsibility for bombings and the abduction of Iranian border police. The airstrikes, a departure from Iran's previous border engagements with terrorists, took place in the mountains of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. Pakistan strongly condemned the violation of its sovereignty as "completely unacceptable" and warned of potential serious consequences.

Tensions between Tehran and Islamabad have often involved accusations of allowing terrorists to operate from each other's territories. The Pakistani foreign ministry expressed heightened concern over the airstrike, emphasizing the occurrence of such an "illegal act" despite established communication channels between the two nations.

"It is even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran. Pakistan's strong protest has already been lodged with the concerned senior official in the Iran Ministry of foreign affairs in Tehran," the statement read.

"Such unilateral acts are not in conformity with good neighborly relations and can seriously undermine bilateral trust and confidence," it added.

The attack occurred a day after similar Iranian strikes in Iraq and Syria. Iran claimed its missile attacks targeted Israeli "spy headquarters" in Irbil, the capital of Iraq's northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region, and locations associated with the Islamic State group in northern Syria. The strikes, amid heightened regional tensions, followed Islamic State's claim of responsibility for two suicide bombings earlier in the month.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard stated that it launched missiles at IS positions in Syria's Idlib province and in the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, where it claimed to have hit a center of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency.

In response, Iraq has recalled its ambassador from Tehran for consultations and summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Baghdad to protest the Iranian strikes on northern Iraq. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry labeled the Iranian attack as a "blatant violation" of Iraq's sovereignty, strongly contradicting principles of good neighborliness and international law, and posing a threat to the security of the region.

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