Military

Jandullah
Jondallah
Jondullah
Jondollah
Jundallah
Jundollah
Jundullah
Former Jundallah of Iran

Army of God (God's Army)
Army of Justice
Baloch Peoples Resistance Movement (BPRM)
Fedayeen-e-Islam
Jaish al-Adl [Army of Justice]
Jaish Aladl
Jaish ul-Adl
Jaysh al-Adl
Jeish al-Adl
Jeysh al-adl
Jonbesh-i Moqavemat-i-Mardom-i Iran
People's Resistance Movement of Iran (PMRI)
Popular Resistance Movement of Iran
Soldiers of God

Jaish al-Adl or Jaish ul-Adl, meaning Army of Justice (AoJ), is a Salafi Jihadist terrorist organisation based in Pakistan and the Sistan and Baluchestan Province of Iran, responsible for several attacks against civilians and military personnel in Iran. The group claims that it is a separatist group fighting for the independence of Sistan Baluchistan province and greater rights for the Baluch people. The group was founded in 2012 by members of Jundallah, a Sunni militant group that had been weakened following Iran's capture and execution of its leader, Abdolmalek Rigi in 2010. After that, the group splintered into several elements—of which JAA became the most active and influential. Iran considers JAA to be Jundallah’s successor and the leader of Baluch resistance in Iran.

The headquarters of the Pakistan-based terrorist group, ‘Jaish al-Adl’, was pounded by a barrage of missiles late on 16 January 2024, which destroyed the group’s terror infrastructure. The long-anticipated military operation against the dreaded terrorist group based in the border region of Pakistan – southwestern Pakistan’s Balochistan province – generated intense debate on social media about the terrorist group, its activities and origins.

Jaish al-Adl is a Sunni militant group, which was fighting against what it said was discrimination against Sunni Muslims and ethnic Baluch in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan. The region was known as home to drug smugglers, as well as Sunni militants, both of whom regularly clash with Iranian security forces. Iran shares a 1,000-kilometer-long border with Pakistan. Ties between the two countries have been tense over Islamabad's alleged support to anti-Shiite militant groups operating from its soil and its closeness to Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia.

The present leadership of the ‘Jaish e Adl’ group isn’t publicly known except for Salahuddin Farooqui and his deputy Mullah Omar Darakhshan, who are believed to be running the day-to-day militant activities of the group. Farooqui was born in 1979 in Rask, Sistan and Baluchestan province, and has strong tribal connections with Baloch groups in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. He openly voiced opposition to the Iranian government, vowed to divide the country and also unapologetically backed the Israeli-American aggression on Syria.

Darakhshan is the brother of Mullah ‘Mauluk’ Darakhshan, the slain Iranian Baloch separatist who was the founder of Sipah-e-Rasool Allah in the 1990s, a key ally of Pakistan-based anti-Shia outfits.

There have also been reports about the group’s close affiliation with the Daesh terrorist group and Al-Qaeda, as they share the same Takfiri and terror ideology and see Iran as the main adversary. In a November 2023 interview with Midstone Centre, ‘Jaish al-Adl spokesman Hossein Baloch refused to comment on the October 2023 Shah Cheragh shrine attack that was claimed by Daesh. “We do not want to answer this question at this time,” he stated, pointing to the group’s close alliance with Daesh and possible involvement in the dastardly attack.

Jandullah [ie, jund Allah] was an anti-Shia militant group which mostly operated in Baluchistan but had ties with LeJ, ASWJ, and TTP. Its militants were accused of killing 40 Shias in a bomb blast at Karachi in 2009. Jandullah had also been involved in attacks against state’s security forces. Jandullah, headed by Abdul Malik Ragi, emerged with the stated goal of establishing an Islamic state encompassing Iranian, Afghan and Pakistani Balochs.

Jundullah was composed of Sunni Muslims primarily from the Baluchistan region bordering Pakistan. The region is inhabited by members of the Baluch minority and was far less developed than other parts of Iran. On the grounds that Jundullah had attacked civilians in the course of violent attacks in Iran, the State Department formally named it an FTO on November 4, 2010. Some saw the designation as an overture toward the Iranian government, while others saw it as a sign that the United States supported only opposition groups that are committed to peaceful methods. Jundullah has conducted several attacks on Iranian security and civilian officials, including a May 2009 bombing of a mosque in Zahedan and the October 2009 killing of five IRGC commanders in Sistan va Baluchistan Province.

The regime claimed a victory against the group in February 2010 with the capture of its top leader, Abdolmalek Rigi. The mastermind of several deadly terror attacks in Iran, Rigi was arrested in February 2010 while on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan and subsequently executed at Evin Prison on June 19, 2010. In a statement at the time, the Iranian judiciary said the terrorist group leader was "responsible for the killing of 154 members of security forces and other innocent people and wounding of 320 people since 2003" and was "linked to members of foreign intelligence services.” The the group retaliated in July 2010 with a Zahedan bombing that killed 28 persons, including some IRGC personnel. The group was responsible for a December 15, 2010, bombing at a mosque in Chahbahar, also in Baluchistan, that killed 38.

Since its inception in 2003, Jundallah, a violent extremist organization that operated primarily in the province of Sistan va Balochistan of Iran, engaged in numerous attacks resulting in the death and maiming of scores of Iranian civilians and government officials. Jundallah’s stated goals were to secure recognition of Balochi cultural, economic, and political rights from the government of Iran and to spread awareness of the plight of the Baloch situation through violent and nonviolent means. In October 2007, Amnesty International reported that Jundallah had by its own admission, carried out gross abuses such as hostage-taking, the killing of hostages, and attacks against non-military targets.

Pakistan-based militant group Jaish al-Adl, or the Army of Justice, has been involved in a number of deadly attacks on Iranian soldiers and installations in the past few years. The ‘Jaish al-Adl’ terrorist group has been directly involved in a number of deadly attacks on the soil of the Islamic Republic of Iran, mostly in the southwestern Sistan and Baluchestan province. The group has claimed responsibility for all these attacks through its social media channels.

• 18 January 2024 - IRGC Colonel Hossein-Ali Javdanfar was killed when armed men opened fire on the car near the Pakistan borde. Jaish al-Adl Sunni militant group has claimed responsibility for his killing, adding that two of his "bodyguards" were also killed by their forces. The incident occurred a day after the IRGC conducted a missile and drone strike in Pakistan against the Sunni militant group.
• Jaish al-Adl attacked a police station in Rask on December 15, 2023, killing 11 police officers. Iran called the January 16 attack on the Jaish al-Adl group’s headquarters in Pakistan “another decisive step taken by Iran in response to the aggression against the security of our country”.
• 4 OCTOBER 2022 Sistan-Baluchistan province, Iran - JAA attacks police stations, banks, and stores, killing 19 people and injuring at least 20.
• In December 2019, ‘Jaish al-Adl’ claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the port city of Chabahar, which killed two police officers and injured 40 others.
• 13 FEBRUARY 2019 Sistan-Baluchistan province, Iran - One of the biggest attacks came when JAA detonates a suicide car-bomb against a bus carrying Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel, killing 27 and wounding 18, which drew strong condemnation from the Iranian leadership.
• In October 2018, the terrorist group kidnapped 12 security personnel and took them to Pakistan, five of whom were released a month later and four others in March 2019.
• In April 2017, the group claimed responsibility for an ambush that led to the martyrdom of nine border guards who had been patrolling the Pakistan–Iran border at the time of the attack.
• Jundallah did not publicly claim any attacks in 2016.
• On 13 May 2015, armed gunmen stopped a bus carrying members of the Ismaili Shia community in the Safoora Goth neighborhood of Karachi and killed 45 people on board. Jundullah also claimed responsibility for this attack. Seven days later, police arrested four individuals accused of planning the attack. Subsequently, two senior government prosecutors resigned from the Safoora Goth case, stating the provincial government was not providing them with adequate security and compensation to continue the prosecution.
• In April 2015, eight Iranian border guards were martyred in a cross-border attack from the Pakistan-based terrorist group, which was followed by another attack days later that killed two IRGC officers.
• In January and February 2015 the TTP splinter group Jundullah claimed responsibility for a string of deadly bombings at Shia religious centers in Shikarpur, Peshawar, and Rawalpindi, which killed a total of 86 Shia worshippers.
• In October 2014, three security personnel were killed in the Sistan and Baluchestan province.
• In February 2014, five Iranian policemen were abducted by the Pakistan-based terrorist group, which prompted Iranian authorities to issue stern warnings to the group as well as Pakistani authorities.
• In November 2013, the group attacked a border police patrol, killing 14 and wounding 6 others.
• In October 2013, the terrorist group claimed responsibility for an attack that led to the martyrdom of 14 Iranian border guards in the city of Saravan in Sistan and Baluchestan province.
• 15 DECEMBER 2010 Chabahar, Iran - Jundallah detonates a suicide bomb in the Iman Hussein Mosque, killing 40 civilians and wounding nearly 100. In a statement on its website, Jundallah claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb attack.
• In July 2010, Jundallah attacked the Grand Mosque in Zahedan, killing approximately 30 and injuring an estimated 300.
• 18 OCTOBER 2009 Pishin, Iran - A Jundallah suicide bomber attacked a marketplace in the city of Pishin in the Sistan va Balochistan province, killing more than 40 people. This was reportedly the deadliest terrorist attack in Iran since the 1980s.
• 28 MAY 2009 Zahedan, Iran - A Jundallah suicide bomber attacks the crowded Shiite Amir al-Mo’menin Grand Mosque in Zahedan, destroying the mosque and killing 30 worshippers while injuring 300.
• Jundallah seized 16 Iranian police officers near the border with Pakistan in 2008. When the Iranian government refused to release 200 Jundallah prisoners in exchange for the hostages, Jundallah killed them.
• In 2007, Jundallah killed 18 border guards on the Iranian-Afghan border.
• In May 2006, Jundallah barricaded a road in Kerman province and killed 11 civilians and burned four vehicles. The assailants then killed another civilian and wounded a child by firing at a passing vehicle.
• In March 2006, Jundallah attacked a motorcade in eastern Iran, which included the deputy head of the Iranian Red Crescent Security Department, who was taken hostage. More than 20 people were killed in the attack. The governor of Zahedan, his deputy, and five other officials were wounded, and seven others were kidnapped in the attack.

A Notice by the State Department published in the Federal Registar on 02 July 2019 concluded that there is a sufficient factual basis to find that Jundallah, also known as People's Resistances Movement of Iran (PMRI), also known as Jonbesh-i Moqavemat-i-Mardom-i Iran, also known as The Popular Resistance Movement of Iran, also known as Soldiers of God, also known as Fedayeen-e-Islam, also known as Former Jundallah of Iran, also known as Jundullah, also known as Jondullah, also known as Jundollah, also known as Jondollah, also known as Jondallah, also known as Army of God (God's Army), also known as the Baloch Peoples Resistance Movement (BPRM), uses the additional alias Jaysh al-Adl, also known as Jeysh al-adl, also known as Army of Justice, also known as Jaish ul-Adl, also known as Jaish al-Adl, also known as Jaish Aladl, also known as Jeish al-Adl, as its primary name.

It amended the designation of Jundallah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist to include the following new aliases: Jaysh al-Adl, Jeysh al-adl, Army of Justice, Jaish ul-Adl, Jaish al-Adl, Jaish Aladl, Jeish al-Adl,

Based on a review of the Administrative Record assembled pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and National Act, as amended (8 U.S.C. 1189) (“INA”), and in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo concluded 27 June 2019 that the circumstances that were the basis for the designation of Jundallah (and other aliases) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization have not changed in such a manner as to warrant revocation of the designation and that the national security of the United States does not warrant a revocation of the designation. He also concluded there was a sufficient factual basis to find that Jundallah (and other aliases) uses the additional alias Jaysh al-Adl, also known as Jeysh al-adl, also known as Army of Justice, also known as Jaish ul-Adl, also known as Jaish al-Adl, also known as Jaish Aladl, also known as Jeish al-Adl, as its primary name.

Therefore, he determined that the designation of the aforementioned organization (and other aliases) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, pursuant to Section 219 of the INA, as amended (8 U.S.C. 1189), shall be maintained. Additionally, pursuant to Section 219(b) of the INA, as amended (8 U.S.C. 1189(b)), Pompeo amended the designation of the aforementioned organization as a Foreign Terrorist Organization to include the following new aliases: Jaysh al-Adl, Jeysh al-adl, Army of Justice, Jaish ul-Adl, Jaish al-Adl, Jaish Aladl, Jeish al-Adl.

Strength

Reports of Jundallah membership vary widely from 500 to 2000.

Location/Area of Operation

Throughout Sistan va Balochistan province in southeastern Iran and the greater Balochistan area of Afghanistan and Pakistan

External Aid

Unknown

The group, according to Iranian intelligence sources, receives financial and military support from the Israeli regime as well as the United States and other Western countries for its terror activities inside Iran. Interestingly, it is a designated terrorist organization in the United States, apart from Japan, New Zealand and Iran. In Iran, it’s known as ‘Jaish al-Zulm’ (the party of injustice).

In February 2007, then vice president, Dick Cheney, made a trip to Pakistan to meet with President General Pervez Musharraf. According to PBS, the secret US-backed campaign against Iran by the terror group known as Jundullah was high on Cheney’s agenda. A few months later, ABC News reported that Jundallah, which was “responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005.” The report explained that “US relationship with Jundullah is arranged so that the US provides no funding to the group, which would require an official presidential order or ‘finding’ as well as congressional oversight.”

In 2008, Pakistan’s former army chief retired General Mirza Aslam Baig claimed that “the U.S. supports the Jundullah terrorist group and uses it to destabilize Iran.” He claimed the US was militarily and financially supporting the Jundullah, the parent organization of ‘Jaish al-Adl’. He said the US military was providing training to Jundullah fighters to stoke unrest in the border region of Iran and “affect the cordial ties between Iran and its neighbor Pakistan.”

On 18 February 2020 senior Iranian commander says Saudi Arabia has provided at least three planeloads of weapons and equipment to a Pakistan-based terrorist group conducting acts of terror against the Islamic Republic. Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Ground Forces, said members of the so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group operating on the northwestern, western and southeastern borders of the country are well-armed and equipped, which shows the terrorists enjoy the “all-out backing of the US, Saudi Arabia and their regional allies.”

Riyadh is believed by Iran to be a key sponsor of Takfiri terrorists, who are inspired by Wahhabism, the ideology preached by Saudi clerics. The ideology promoted by Riyadh has put Saudi Arabia and Iran on the opposing sides of various conflicts across the Middle East.