Iran attacked the headquarters of a terrorist group opposed to Tehran with drones and missiles inside Pakistan's territory on late hours of Tuesday, TV reports on Thursday claimed that Pakistan has hit back.
Pakistan strike reportedly focused on positions held by two Baloch separatist factions, namely the Balochistan Liberation Front and the Balochistan Liberation Army, marking a significant escalation in the conflict.
Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs had said that the violation of Pakistan's sovereignty is "completely unacceptable" and warned of serious consequences. It further said that Iran has taken this action despite the existence of several channels of communication between the two nations.
Targeted strikes on Jaish al-Adl
Iran launched unprecedented missile and drone strikes on what it claimed were terrorist bases of a Sunni militant group in Balochistan. Two bases of the Balochi militant group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan were targeted on Tuesday, a day after Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards attacked targets in Iraq and Syria with missiles.
Iran's Mehrnews reported the strike as a retaliation, aimed at the Jaish al-Adl group in Pakistan, which Iran designates as a terrorist organization responsible for multiple attacks within its borders.
Officials in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan, which borders Iran, said that four missiles had hit the Panjgur district close to the border.
"Four missiles were fired in the village of Koh-i-Sabaz which is around 50 km (31 miles) inside Pakistan soil," a senior official of the Panjgur administration told Reuters.
"A mosque and three houses were damaged in the attack," another official said, adding that two young girls were killed and three other people injured.
Jaish al-Adl has carried out several attacks on Iranian soil in recent years. Jaish al-Adl, which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for ethnic minority Baluchis, has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent years on Iranian security forces in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.
In its previous iteration as Jundallah, the group had pledged allegiance to Iraq- and Syria-based jihadist group the Islamic State.
The United States has also labelled Jaish al-Adl a terrorist organisation, saying the group "primarily targets Iranian security personnel" but also government officials and civilians with assassinations, kidnappings, and suicide bombings.