Iran arrests 15 over kidnapped troops
TEHRAN: Iranian police have arrested 15 people in connection with the abduction of eight soldiers in the country's lawless southeastern borderlands, police spokesman Mehdi Ahmadi said today.
Ahmadi said of nine Iranian soldiers abducted by a rebel group December 28, one had been released immediately.
''Subsequently, we have arrested 15 people who are connected to the group that kidnapped the soldiers,'' he said.
''Based on our follow-ups, the soldiers are well,'' he added.
The Sunni Muslim Jundollah (God's soldiers) group has threatened to kill the soldiers unless some of their own members are freed from Iranian jails and a ransom is paid. Iran has said it will not be blackmailed.
In July, the same rebel group said it had beheaded an Iranian security agent. Rebels in southeast Iran tend to come from the Baluch minority, which is Sunni.
Some 90 per cent of Iran's 69 million people are Shi'ite and the Sunni minority sometimes complains of discrimination.
Iranian officials have identified the kidnappers' leader Abdolmalek Rigi as a leader of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in the Islamic Republic.
Southeastern Iran is the main thoroughfare for drugs heading to Europe from Afghanistan and Pakistan. More than 3,300 Iranian troops have died fighting traffickers on the borders since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Ahmadi said of nine Iranian soldiers abducted by a rebel group December 28, one had been released immediately.
''Subsequently, we have arrested 15 people who are connected to the group that kidnapped the soldiers,'' he said.
''Based on our follow-ups, the soldiers are well,'' he added.
The Sunni Muslim Jundollah (God's soldiers) group has threatened to kill the soldiers unless some of their own members are freed from Iranian jails and a ransom is paid. Iran has said it will not be blackmailed.
In July, the same rebel group said it had beheaded an Iranian security agent. Rebels in southeast Iran tend to come from the Baluch minority, which is Sunni.
Some 90 per cent of Iran's 69 million people are Shi'ite and the Sunni minority sometimes complains of discrimination.
Iranian officials have identified the kidnappers' leader Abdolmalek Rigi as a leader of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in the Islamic Republic.
Southeastern Iran is the main thoroughfare for drugs heading to Europe from Afghanistan and Pakistan. More than 3,300 Iranian troops have died fighting traffickers on the borders since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
posted by Marko at 1/09/2006 12:54:00 PM
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