Alwaght- Terrorists have kidnapped a number of Iranian forces in the southeastern province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan bordering Pakistan, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the IRGC said local Basij volunteer forces and border guards were among those abducted overnight near the town of Mirjaveh on the Pakistani border, Press TV reported.
Members of “the terrorist groups led and backed by foreign services” carried out the kidnappings by “deceiving and bribing infiltrating elements.”
Iranian security forces, it added, are preparing for operations to chase the terrorists and secure the release of those kidnapped.
Earlier in the day, Iranian media quoted informed sources as saying that 14 Iranian forces had been abducted in the village of Lulakdan near Mirjaveh.
The Fars news agency later revised the number of abductees to 11.
There is also speculation in media that the abductees had been poisoned by the terrorists before being transferred to Pakistan.
Over the past years, Iranian border guards have repeatedly come under attacks by terror outfits active on Pakistani soil.
The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terror group – which is based in Pakistan – usually claims responsibility for such assaults.
Tehran has repeatedly filed protests with Iran over its failure to end terror activities on the Pakistani side of the border. Two neighbors had signed a security deal in 2013.
Elsewhere in Tuesday’s statement, the IRGC said Iran expects Pakistan to deal with the terrorists with seriousness and work to facilitate the release of the abducted Iranian forces.
Iranian forces usually engage in clashes with terrorists in border regions, thwarting their infiltration attempts and during their security operations.
The terror group was formed in 2012 by members of the Pakistan-based Jundallah, another terrorist group which was dismantled by Iranian intelligence forces in 2010 after its ringleader, Abdolmalek Rigi, was executed.
Back in August, Iran managed to release a border guard from terrorists’ captivity. The border guard had been abducted during an ambush on a border outpost in Mirjaveh and held in Pakistan for more than one year.
