Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli.
Dubai: Iran said yesterday it would send forces into Pakistan to free five border guards said to have been kidnapped by militants if Islamabad did not take measures to secure their release.
According to Iranian media reports, the guards were seized on Febrary 6 in the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan by militants who allegedly took them across the border to Pakistan.
“If Pakistan doesn’t take the needed steps to fight against the terrorist groups, we will send our forces into Pakistani soil. We will not wait for this country,” Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli was quoted as telling Mehr news agency.
A Sunni insurgent Iranian group calling itself Jaish Al Adl (Army of Justice) had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, according to a Twitter account purporting to belong to the group.
The account’s authenticity could not be immediately verified.
The Iranian armed forces’ deputy chief of staff was quoted as telling the Fars news agency that Iran would “show tough confrontation in this case”.
“We will have no soft stand in this case and our neighbouring country ... should account for its lack of action,” Major General Hossein Hassani Sa’di told reporters in Tehran on Monday, according to Fars English language website.
Reuters
