Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday an Iranian strike on Pakistani soil killed two children. The ministry said that it revoked Pakistan-Iran relations.
The ministry strongly condemned the attack, describing it as an “unprovoked violation” of Pakistan’s airspace.
The strike killed “two innocent children while injuring three girls,” the ministry said in a statement, without specifying the location of the incident.
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 ministry also said it had summoned Tehran’s top diplomat in Islamabad to protest the strike.
While Iran has yet to officially comment on the matter, an Iranian news agency close to the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported that Iran had launched missile and drone attacks in Pakistan targeting the headquarters of a militant group opposed to Tehran.
The Tasnim news agency said the attacks “destroyed two important headquarters” of Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) in Pakistan. 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.
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. It 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.
