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Jihadists claim responsibility for Iran troops abduction
TEHRAN, Oct 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A jihadist group has claimed
responsibility for the abduction of 12 Iranian security personnel near the
border with Pakistan, Iran’s semi-official news agency ISNA reported Monday.
“The terrorist group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice in Arabic) has posted
two photos… claiming that those in it are the forces abducted” on October
16, ISNA said.
Jaish al-Adl, formed in 2012, is a successor to the Sunni extremist group
Jundallah (Soldiers of God) which has carried out a spate of attacks on
Iranian security forces in recent years in the southeastern province of
Sistan-Baluchistan.
The photos show seven members of the elite Revolutionary Guards force and
five police commandos, all in combat gear, according to state news agency
IRNA.
The Iranians, including intelligence offices, were abducted near Lulakdan,
a village 150 kilometres (90 miles) southeast of Zahedan, capital of Sistan-
Baluchistan.
They were “made unconscious” by a “single infiltrator” and then kidnapped
and taken to bases inside Pakistan, said Guards commander Major General
Mohammad Ali Jafari, quoted by IRNA.
The photos also show a haul of automatic weapons and sniper rifles, rocket
launchers, machine-guns, grenades and ammunition, apparently seized from the
Iranian forces.
Sistan-Baluchistan has long been a flashpoint, with Pakistan-based Baluchi
separatists and jihadists carrying out regular cross-border raids against
Iran.
The province has a large, mainly Sunni Muslim ethnic Baluchi community
which straddles the border.
A delegation led by the Guards’ ground forces commander Mohammad Pakpour
visited Pakistan on Monday to follow up on efforts to free the Iranians, the
force said on its website.
Pakistan said last Wednesday that it has launched “active” efforts to
locate the missing men.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has blamed the kidnapping
on “our common enemies unhappy with the existing close, friendly relations
between Pakistan and Iran”.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1858 hrs