New Delhi: Iran’s military forces killed senior Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) militant group commander Ismail Shahbakhsh and some of his associates in the Pakistan territory, news agency ANI reported, citing Iran International English. In the latest development, Iran’s forces, in a gunfight, assaulted a militant group, one month after the two countries exchanged air strikes. Jaish al-Adl, formed in 2012, is a Sunni terrorist group that operates in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, and is labeled as a “terrorist” organization by Iran, ANI reported, citing Al Arabiya News.
Jaish al-Adl has carried out numerous attacks on Iranian security forces over the years. In December, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for an attack on a police station in Sistan-Balochistan that killed at least 11 police personnel.
However, last month, weeks after launching missile strikes against “terror units” in each other’s territories, Pakistan and Iran agreed to enhance security cooperation, The News International reported. The agreement was announced during a joint press conference by Pakistan Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian at the Pakistan Foreign Office.
Jilani said that both Iran and Pakistan can settle “misunderstandings” fairly quickly. The two countries also agreed to combat terrorism in their respective areas and address each other’s concerns, he added. However, the recent attack showed the opposite. Notably, tensions between the two nations rose after Tehran and Islamabad conducted missile strikes against each other targeting ‘terror units’.
Iran carried out missile and drone strikes in Pakistan on the late night of January 16, to destroy two “important headquarters” of Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice). Islamabad claimed that the strikes killed two children and injured three girls, Al Arabiya News reported, citing Tasnim News Agency. Pakistan pulled out its ambassador from Iran on January 17 and announced that it would not allow the Iranian envoy visiting his home country at that time to return to protest a “blatant breach” of its sovereignty.
The next day, on January 18, Pakistan launched strikes inside Iran in a retaliatory attack. Islamabad said it targeted the hideouts used by ‘terrorist militant organizations,’ namely the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF). However, later, both countries agreed on the return of ambassadors of both countries to their respective posts and also decided to mutually work for ‘de-escalation’ of tensions, Geo News reported.