Pakistan on Thursday carried out retaliatory airstrikes on purported Baloch separatist camps within Iran, as reported by several media outlets. The Pakistan Air Force allegedly targeted hideouts situated in the Iranian territory housing Baloch militants wanted by Pakistan.
The move followed a statement from Tehran a day earlier, claiming to have employed “precision missile and drone strikes” to dismantle two “important headquarters” of Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) in Pakistan. In response, Islamabad condemned the breach of its sovereignty as “completely unacceptable” and issued a warning of “severe consequences.”
Salman Masood, the editor of a local Pakistan daily and correspondent for the New York Times, posted on X on Wednesday, stating, “Pakistan Air Force has conducted airstrikes on Baluch separatist camps inside Iran. The move comes a day after Iran claimed to have targeted militants inside Pakistani territory, a claim rejected by Pakistan, citing civilian casualties.”
Another Pakistani daily also reported that hideouts of Baloch militants sought by Pakistan were targeted in Iran.
Pakistan’s caretaker Foreign Minister, Jalil Abbas Jilani, in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian, said that Iran’s incursion into Pakistani territory constituted a serious violation of sovereignty and international law. Jilani condemned the attack, expressing its detrimental impact on bilateral relations.
Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul-Haq Kakar met with Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, at the World Economic Forum in Davos. During this encounter, Iran announced its targeting of Jaish al-Adl bases inside Pakistan through drone and missile strikes.
Jaish al-Adl, designated as a “terrorist” organization by Iran, was formed in 2012 and operates in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan. The group has previously carried out numerous attacks on Iranian security forces, including an attack in December on a police station in Sistan-Balochistan that resulted in the deaths of at least 11 police personnel.
Tuesday’s attacks on Pakistan followed Iran’s missile strikes in northern Iraq and Syria on Monday. Iran’s foreign ministry defended these strikes, describing them as a “precise and targeted” operation to counter security threats. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani highlighted the use of ballistic missiles to identify and strike “headquarters of criminals” in Idlib, Syria, and an alleged “Mossad-affiliated centre” in Erbil, Iraq.
(Inputs from ANI)