Video shows kidnapped Iranian soldiers-Arabiya TV
DUBAI, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Al Arabiya television aired a video on Wednesday which showed Iranian soldiers being held hostage by militants who are pressing Tehran to free 16 jailed members of the Sunni Muslim group.
Iran on Sunday confirmed that nine of its soldiers had gone missing from their post close to Iran's border with Pakistan. On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said they were thought to have been taken to Pakistan.
Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi was upbeat about securing the soldiers' release.
"We have made every effort to resolve the kidnapping peacefully ... In the next few days we will hear good news," he told the official IRNA news agency on Wednesday.
Al Arabiya said the tape from the Organisation of God's Soldiers for Sunni Mujahideen (Holy Fighters) showed the soldiers appealing to their government to heed the militants' demand.
The video showed men standing in a row and speaking to the camera, but their voices were not audible.
The tape's authenticity could not be verified immediately.
In July, Al Arabiya aired a video from the same group which said it had beheaded an Iranian security agent after threatening to kill him if the Iranian authorities did not free its imprisoned members within three weeks.
Kidnappings are rare in Iran, which says it is holding an unspecified number of al Qaeda members whom it plans to try for crimes against the Islamic state.
Some 90 percent of Iran's nearly 70 million people are Shi'ite Muslims. Sunnis among the Kurdish, Turkmen and Baluchi ethnic minorities have often complained of discrimination. (Additional reporting by Paul Hughes in Tehran)
Iran on Sunday confirmed that nine of its soldiers had gone missing from their post close to Iran's border with Pakistan. On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said they were thought to have been taken to Pakistan.
Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi was upbeat about securing the soldiers' release.
"We have made every effort to resolve the kidnapping peacefully ... In the next few days we will hear good news," he told the official IRNA news agency on Wednesday.
Al Arabiya said the tape from the Organisation of God's Soldiers for Sunni Mujahideen (Holy Fighters) showed the soldiers appealing to their government to heed the militants' demand.
The video showed men standing in a row and speaking to the camera, but their voices were not audible.
The tape's authenticity could not be verified immediately.
In July, Al Arabiya aired a video from the same group which said it had beheaded an Iranian security agent after threatening to kill him if the Iranian authorities did not free its imprisoned members within three weeks.
Kidnappings are rare in Iran, which says it is holding an unspecified number of al Qaeda members whom it plans to try for crimes against the Islamic state.
Some 90 percent of Iran's nearly 70 million people are Shi'ite Muslims. Sunnis among the Kurdish, Turkmen and Baluchi ethnic minorities have often complained of discrimination. (Additional reporting by Paul Hughes in Tehran)
posted by Marko at 1/04/2006 09:37:00 AM
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