Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) have freed two soldiers during a  rescue mission by Jaish ul-Adl , the same organisation that had   kidnapped Kulbhushan Jadhav in 2016. Jadhav, a former naval officer,  was subsequently handed over to Pakistan’s Inter -Services Intelligence (ISI), according to Indian official sources.

“A successful operation was carried out last Tuesday night to rescue two kidnapped border guards who were taken as hostages by Jaish ul-Adl organization two and a half years ago,” the IRGC said in a statemen, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu News Agency reported.

According to the statement, the soldiers were successfully transferred back to Iran.

On Oct. 16, 2018, Jaish ul-Adl organization kidnapped 12 IRGC guards to Pakistani territory in the city of Merkava in Sistan and Balochestan Province on the border between the two countries.

Military officials then had formed a joint committee between Tehran and Islamabad to free the kidnapped guards.

Five of the soldiers were released on Nov. 15, 2018, and four Iranian soldiers were rescued by the Pakistani army on March 21, 2019.

Jaish ul-Adl organization, which Tehran declared a terrorist organization, is waging an armed struggle against the Iranian government, saying it defends the rights of Baloch Sunnis in Iran.

Relations between Iran and Pakistan have touched rock bottom recently. . "If the threat of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is averted, we will go inside Iran and take action. Iran is the biggest enemy of Pakistan which has a direct hand in the instability of Balochistan," the Major General Ayman Bilal was quoted as saying. The killing of the six Hazara coalminers who have Shia roots in Afghanistan by Islamic State in the area, known to be under the control of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence had taken responsibility for the attack. Following the slaying several demostarations took place in Iran condemning the killings.