On Wednesday, Pakistan reported that Iran had murdered two children in an airstrike on its territory. This came after Tehran had attacked so-called “anti-Iranian terrorist groups” in Syria and Iraq.
Late on Tuesday, Pakistan condemned the strike near their shared border, calling it “completely unacceptable” and claiming it was unprovoked.
Iran did not immediately provide an official statement, but its state-run news outlet, Nour News, said that the operation destroyed the Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) terrorist group’s Pakistani headquarters.
Jaish al-Adl, which was formed in 2012, is blacklisted by Iran as a terrorist group and has carried out several attacks on Iranian soil in recent years.
The strike came after Iran launched missile attacks on “spy headquarters” and “terrorist” targets in Syria, and in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.
The Iranian strikes add to multiple crises across the Middle East, with Israel waging a war against Hamas in Gaza and pro-Palestinian Huthi rebels in Yemen commercial attacking vessels in the Red Sea.
Pakistan’s official statement did not say where the strike took place.
But Pakistani social media accounts said blasts occurred in Balochistan province, where the two countries share a sparsely populated border of nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 miles).
“This violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty is completely unacceptable and can have serious consequences,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said the strike late Tuesday “resulted in death of two innocent children while injuring three girls”.
Pakistan said it summoned Tehran’s top diplomat in Islamabad to protest the “unprovoked violation of its airspace”.
Iran’s Nour News agency posted on X: “Minutes ago, two important headquarters of the so called Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group was targeted in Pakistan”.
“These headquarters were destroyed by rockets and drones.”
At least 11 Iranian police officers were slain in an attack on a Rask police station in December, which the group claimed was its fault.
Jaish al-Adl has also been designated as a terrorist organization by the US, which claims that the group “primarily targets Iranian security personnel” in addition to government officials and civilians through kidnappings, killings, and suicide bombings.
