Going Rogue? Iran Bombs a base in Pakistan

Iran on Tuesday launched missile and drone attacks against the Pakistan-based headquarters of a militant group opposed to Tehran, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.

Tasnim said two “important headquarters” of Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) in Pakistan were “destroyed.” 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.

The Pakistani government has yet to comment on the reported Iranian attacks on its soil.

The attacks came a day after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched missiles into Iraq’s Kurdistan region at what it called an Israeli “spy headquarters,” and at alleged ISIS-linked targets in Syria.

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.

The group claims to advocate for greater rights and improved living conditions for ethnic Baluchis in Iran and 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 borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and 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.