Iran attack: locals still in state of panic

QUETTA:

 

The residents of the rugged mountains at the Pakistan-Iran border are in a state of panic in the aftermath of Tehran firing missiles at a village located in the Panjgur district of Balochistan. A senior police official, requesting anonymity, said the missiles landed at a house in Sabz Koh village before sunset on Tuesday. "We are investigating the incident,” he added.

The means of communication are very poor in the area, making it impossible to speak to the residents of the village. Iranian authorities claimed to have targeted a militant camp being operated by the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl in the Pakistani territory. Jaish al-Adl, or "Army of Justice", has carried out attacks inside Iran as well as on Pakistani government forces.

Iran said it fired four drone missiles in the area targeting the militant group. However, the Pakistani authorities contradicted the Iranian claim, saying that militants could not keep women and children in their camps. "[The missiles] fired by the Iranian forces landed at a house and killed two children,” Makran Division Commissioner Saeed Ahmed Umrani told The Express Tribune on the phone.

He said four people, including three children and a woman, were also injured in the attack. "Women and children cannot live at a militant camp,” Umrani continued. The bodies of the two children – a six-year-old girl and an 11-month-old boy -- were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Panjgur.

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The four injured people were rushed to the hospital for medical treatment as well. The commissioner maintained that the missiles had landed at the residence of one Kareem Dad alias Idrees. Locals say most of the people living in the area frequently move between the two countries.

Pakistan and Iran share more than 900 kilometres of border with ethnic Balochs living on both sides. Unverified videos shared on social media platforms showed people rushing towards the site of the attack where thick black smoke was rising.

Jaish al-Adl has carried out attacks on the Iranian forces in the predominately ethnic Baloch province of Sistan and Baluchestan. Jundullah, another Sunni militant group, has also carried out major attacks against the Iranian forces in the past. However, Jundullah's activities were reduced after the arrest of its chief Abdul Salam Reki on February 23, 2010 when he was travelling from Dubai to Bishkek.

Iranian forces had conducted a raid and arrested Reki. Reki was the most wanted man by the Iranian authorities and involved in several bombings in the Pishin area of Sistan and Baluchestan, claiming dozens of lives.

This is not the first time Iran has fired drones and missiles inside the Pakistani territory. Iranian border guards have been firing rockets for the last two decades in the Mashkel, Panjgur and Kech areas of Balochistan province of Pakistan.

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In mid-2019, Pakistan authorities caught an Iranian spy drone in the Chaghi district of Balochistan province. Levies, a tribal policing force, caught the spy drone in the Tuzghi Wadh area of the Chaghi district.

The authorities said at that time that the drone was not in a bad condition and it fell because of a technical fault in the area. In 2014, Pakistani authorities rescued four Iranian border guards who were kidnapped by Jaish al-Adl.

Pakistani authorities have always accused Iran of harbouring Baloch separatist groups in its Sistan and Baluchestan province. Senior security officials discreetly share information that most of the attacks carried out by Baloch separatist groups in the port city of Gwadar and other parts of Makran in Balochistan were planned on Iranian soil.

They maintained that Iran had been harbouring militant groups, responsible for killing security forces and pro-government politicians in Balochistan province. Pakistan has repeatedly lodged protests with Iranian authorities about the Baloch separatist militant activities in the Makran region.

The two countries have also established a joint commission to address issues relating to the border. The Iranian strike came a day after the joint border commission comprising senior officials from both countries met in Iran.

The commission always discusses terrorism, trade and other issues related to the border. The two-day border commission meeting ended in a cordial atmosphere in Iran.

However, the sudden Iranian attack overshadowed the impact of the meeting, said a senior Pakistani security officer, who was present there. He added that the two countries had agreed to eradicate terrorism and promote bilateral ties when the Iranian forces resorted to the “unprovoked attack”.