EXPLAINER

The Iranian missile attacks on Pakistan are just the latest incident on the border with Pakistan.

Pakistan and Iran are on the verge of severing diplomatic ties following an Iranian missile attack on Pakistan that killed people two children and injured three others on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, Pakistan recalled its ambassador to Tehran after denouncing the attack and barred Iran’s traveling envoy in Islamabad from returning to Pakistan.

Islamabad accused Iran of violating Pakistani airspace. and Iranian state media said rockets struck two bases of armed groups Jaish al-Adl.

But while the rhetoric from Islamabad points to a growing crisis sparked by the Iranian attacks, the two countries have often had to deal with tensions along their 900 km-long, unstable border.

Here is a summary of some past cases of violence, some of which have affected diplomatic relations between the neighbors:

December 2023

The Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), Iran’s blacklisted “terrorist” group, claimed responsibility for one Attack on a police station in the Iranian city of Rask in the southeastern border province of Sistan-Baluchestan, in which eleven Iranian security forces were killed. The attack was condemned by Pakistan.

June 2023

The Pakistan military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), released a statement saying that armed “terrorists” killed two Pakistani soldiers at a checkpoint in the Singwan area of ​​Kech district. Pakistan contacted Iranian authorities to thwart attempts by militants to escape to Iran.

April 2023

The ISPR announced that attackers from Iran killed four of its border patrol soldiers in Jalgai sector of Kech district.

January 2023

Shahbaz Sharif, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, condemned the killing of four security officials along the border with Iran in Balochistan. Following the attack in Chukab sector of Panjgur district, Pakistan’s foreign ministry called on Iran to investigate the matter and hold the perpetrators accountable. The Iranian embassy in Islamabad condemned this attack.

September 2021

Pakistan claimed it was a soldier killed in cross-border shooting from Iran. It blamed “terrorists” in Iran. The attack came after the border between the two countries reopened for bilateral trade on September 20 after being closed for four months for security reasons.

February 2021

Iranian soldiers entered Pakistani territory to rescue two intelligence agents who Tehran said had been captured by “terrorists.”

April 20, 2019

Former Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the media that armed Iran-based “terrorists” from the separatist group Raji Aajoi Sangar attacked passengers on a bus in Balochistan, killing 14 people, including 10 naval officers, three air force personnel and one of them the coast guard.

December 6, 2018

Four police officers were killed and 42 other people injured in a suicide car bomb attack on police headquarters in Iran’s southern port city of Chabahar, Iranian media reported. Then-Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif blamed “foreign-backed terrorists,” which was widely interpreted as an accusation against Pakistan. The Foreign Ministry in Islamabad condemned the attack.

October 16, 2018

Twelve Iranian security forces, including intelligence officers from the highest Iranian security forces – the Revolutionary Guard were supposedly kidnapped on the southeastern border with Pakistan. Jaish al-Adl took responsibility for this. Pakistani security forces helped Iran recover At least five of the twelve abductees belonged to the armed group.

April 17, 2018

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said three Iranian security forces were killed by armed militants in a cross-border attack on a border post in the town of Mirjaveh in Sistan-Baluchestan province.

June 22, 2017

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said that the Pakistani Air Force shot down an Iranian drone flying in Pakistan’s Punjgur area. This was the first time that a drone from Iran was shot down by Pakistan.

April 26, 2017

Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for an attack in Mirjaveh in which ten Iranian border guards were killed. Iranian police told state media in a statement that the killings were carried out with long-range weapons and that “the Pakistani government bears ultimate responsibility for the attack.”

Previous attacks

Since then, the armed group Jaish al-Adl has carried out attacks on Iranian border guards at least 201314 Iranian soldiers were killed in an ambush near the border.

At least five members of the Iranian security forces were also kidnapped in 2014.

In December 2010, 41 people were killed and 90 others injured in a suicide attack near a mosque in Chabahar.