Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11
By Temkin Jafarov, Saeed Isayev - Trend:
Iran will establish a special committee for dealing with issue of the country's kidnapped border guards, Iran's deputy Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi said, ISNA news agency reported on Feb. 11.
"Interior minister Abdul Reza Fazli gave instructions to create such a committee to handle this case," Abdollahi said. "The committee will consist of members of Iran's security-related bodies."
On Feb. 7, five Iranian border guards were lost on Iran-Pakistan border, near the Jakigur village of Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province. Iran immediately dispatched two helicopters and two special groups to search for missing men.
It was assumed at the time that the guards got lost after crossing the Iran-Pakistan border.
Iranian media sources later reported that Sunni Baloch insurgent group Jaish ul-Adl (JUA) later confirmed on its twitter account that it has kidnapped Iranian guards.
Ali Abdollahi said that the ministry has the same information, about JUA being possibly involved in kidnapping the border guards.
"We're currently discussing this issue, and hope to find and rescue the guards as soon as possible," Abdollahi said.
In February 2013, Iran and Pakistan signed a security agreement under which both countries are required to cooperate in preventing and combating organized crime, fighting terrorism and countering activities which pose a threat to the national security of either country.
On October 25, 2013, the Jaish-ul-Adl group killed 14 Iranian border guards and wounded three others in the border region near the city of Saravan in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Press TV reported.
In a letter to the president of the UN Security Council on October 28, 2013, Iranian Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Khazaei said evidence indicates that the Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group carried out the terrorist attack by infiltrating Iran's eastern borders from Pakistan.