17-Jan-2024 03:50 PM
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Tehran/Islamabad, Jan 17 (Reporter) In a significant development, Iran carried out aerial bombardment at two key installations of a terror group inside Pakistan which termed the action as “completely unacceptable” and warned that it “can have serious consequences”.
Soon after the installations of Jaish al-Dhulm (Jaish al-Adl) group in Balochistan were bombarded late last night, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s Charge d’affaires to convey “strongest condemnation of this blatant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty” and warn “that the responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran.”
The Pakistan government said 2 “innocent children” were killed and 3 girls injured in the Iranian bombardment.
According to Iran’s semi-official News Agency Tasnim, “significant bases belonging to the Jaish al-Dhulm (Jaish al-Adl) terrorist group on Pakistani soil were destroyed” in Tuesday night’s operation which involved use of missiles and drones.
It said these bases were specifically targeted and the focal point of the operation was the region known as Kouh-Sabz (green mountain) in the Balochistan province, recognized as one of the largest hubs for the Jaish al-Dhulm militants.
The Iranian action appears to be a retaliation to an attack about a month back by a group of terrorists belonging to Jaish al-Adl (known in Iran as Jaish al-Dhulm) on a police station in Sistan and Balouchestan province’s city of Rask, southeast of Iran, which resulted in the killing of 11 Iranian Police forces.
After that attack in mid-December, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani discussed ways to strengthen security cooperation between the two neighbours.
Pakistan Foreign Office on Wednesday came out with a strong statement, saying the “illegal act” by Iran “can have serious consequences”.
It said a “strong protest has already been lodged with the concerned senior official in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran”.
Claiming that Pakistan has “always said terrorism is a common threat to all countries in the region that requires coordinated action”, the Foreign Ministry statement said, “Such unilateral acts are not in conformity with good neighbourly relations and can seriously undermine bilateral trust and confidence.”
The statement did not mention the place where the bombardment took place but Pakistani media, quoting “reports from the (affected) area”, said a missile hit a mosque, partially damaging it and injuring some people.
Significantly, Iran carried out the strike just hours after its Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar in Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF)...////...