Iran says Baluchi militant group bases attacked in Pakistan

DUBAI: Two bases of Baluchi militant group Jaish al Adl in Pakistan were targeted by missiles on Tuesday, Iranian state media reported, a day after Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards attacked targets in Iraq and Syria with missiles.

The militant group has previously mounted attacks on Iranian security forces in the border area with Pakistan.

“These bases were hit and destroyed by missiles and drones,” Iranian state media reported, without elaborating.

Iran’s Nournews, affiliated with the country’s top security body, said the attacked bases were located in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

Jan Achakzai, information minister of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, which borders Iran, declined to confirm or deny the attack. “Wait for the response of ISPR,” he said, referring to the Pakistani military’s public relations wing.

The Pakistani military’s public relations wing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Writing by Parisa Hafezi; additional reporting by Saleem Ahmed in Quetta, Pakistan, and Gibran Peshimam in Karachi; Editing by Leslie Adler Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Tomasz Janowski. Courtesy: Reuters

According to AlArabiya, Iran on Tuesday launched missile and drone attacks against the Pakistan-based headquarters of a militant group opposed to Tehran, Iranian state-affiliated media reported.

The Tasnim news agency said two “important headquarters” of Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) in Pakistan were “destroyed.” The agency said the strikes were concentrated in an area in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province where “one of the largest headquarters” of Jaish al-Adl was situated.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry strongly condemned the Iranian attacks inside Pakistani territory, describing them as an “unprovoked violation” of Pakistan’s airspace.

The Iranian strikes killed “two innocent children while injuring three girls,” the ministry said in a statement.

“This violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty is completely unacceptable and can have serious consequences,” it warned, adding that “the responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran.”

The attacks came a day after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched missiles into Iraq’s Kurdistan region at what it called an Israeli “spy headquarters,” and at alleged ISIS-linked targets in Syria.

Jaish al-Adl, formed in 2012 and labeled as a “terrorist” organization by Tehran, is a Sunni militant group that operates in Iran’s restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The group claims to advocate for greater rights and improved living conditions for ethnic Baluchis in Iran and has launched numerous attacks on Iranian security forces over the years.

Last month, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for an attack on a police station in Sistan-Baluchistan that killed at least 11 Iranian policemen.

Sistan-Baluchistan has a history of clashes between Iran’s security forces and Sunni militants, as well as drug smugglers.

The province is one of Iran’s poorest regions and is mostly populated by Sunni ethnic Baluchis, a minority in predominantly Shia Iran.