Iran accuses US of supporting kidnappers
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Iran Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi is claiming that Taliban-linked groups kidnapped nine Iranian border guards late December, and accused the United States of covertly sponsoring them.
The nine were seized on Iran's border with western Pakistan in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.
"The kidnappers of the nine Iranian border guards ... belong to the groups influenced by the ideology of the Taliban. America cannot directly confront Iran and instead uses such groups against it," Pour-Mohammadi told the official IRNA news agency.
"Iran has launched a serious investigation into the kidnapping. The kidnappers are quite known. They have asked for ransom and release of jailed members of their group in exchange for the release of the border guards. We hope our sons can soon return to the country with the least harm," Pour-Mohammadi added.
Tehran's control of the isolated Sistan-Baluchistan province is relatively weak. The majority of inhabitants there are Sunni rather than Shiite -- though in the country as a whole, Shiites make up 90 percent of the population. Adding to the turbulence is the province's role as a major transit route for opium and other drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan bound for Europe and the Gulf.
Three thousand border guards have been killed in a decade-long campaign by law enforcement agencies against the trade.
In two videotapes broadcast by the Dubai-based news channel al-Arabiya the kidnappers identified themselves as members of the Sunni militant group Jundallah, or Soldiers of God. They threatened to kill their hostages unless the Iranian authorities release 16 jailed comrades.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said that his ministry is negotiating with Pakistani officials for the safe return of their soldiers.
In September 1998, Tehran nearly went to war with the Taliban after they admitted seven Iranian diplomats had been killed the previous month during the takeover of Mazar-i-Sharif. The Taliban said the diplomats were killed by militia acting without instruction from the government. Iran massed tens of thousands of troops on the Afghanistan border before the situation was resolved.
The nine were seized on Iran's border with western Pakistan in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.
"The kidnappers of the nine Iranian border guards ... belong to the groups influenced by the ideology of the Taliban. America cannot directly confront Iran and instead uses such groups against it," Pour-Mohammadi told the official IRNA news agency.
"Iran has launched a serious investigation into the kidnapping. The kidnappers are quite known. They have asked for ransom and release of jailed members of their group in exchange for the release of the border guards. We hope our sons can soon return to the country with the least harm," Pour-Mohammadi added.
Tehran's control of the isolated Sistan-Baluchistan province is relatively weak. The majority of inhabitants there are Sunni rather than Shiite -- though in the country as a whole, Shiites make up 90 percent of the population. Adding to the turbulence is the province's role as a major transit route for opium and other drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan bound for Europe and the Gulf.
Three thousand border guards have been killed in a decade-long campaign by law enforcement agencies against the trade.
In two videotapes broadcast by the Dubai-based news channel al-Arabiya the kidnappers identified themselves as members of the Sunni militant group Jundallah, or Soldiers of God. They threatened to kill their hostages unless the Iranian authorities release 16 jailed comrades.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said that his ministry is negotiating with Pakistani officials for the safe return of their soldiers.
In September 1998, Tehran nearly went to war with the Taliban after they admitted seven Iranian diplomats had been killed the previous month during the takeover of Mazar-i-Sharif. The Taliban said the diplomats were killed by militia acting without instruction from the government. Iran massed tens of thousands of troops on the Afghanistan border before the situation was resolved.
posted by Marko at 1/10/2006 12:36:00 AM
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