Iran threatens to send forces into Pakistan to free abducted border guards

Iran says if Pakistan fails to secure release of its guards, it will act unilaterally in Pakistani territory.

DUBAI: Iran threatened on Monday to send its forces into Pakistani territory to free kidnapped border guards if Islamabad did not take measures to secure their release.

Earlier, Iranian media reports had suggested that some of its guards had been seized by militants allegedly operating from 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 the semi-official Mehr news agency.

On February 9, Iran had urged Pakistan to secure the release of five kidnapped border guards.

Iran had denounced what it called Pakistan’s ‘inability’ to secure its own borders after its soldiers were kidnapped and taken across the border by insurgents.

“We are unhappy with the Pakistani government over the abduction of our guards and their transfer to Pakistan,” Fars news agency quoted police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghadam as saying.

Jaish-ul Adl has said it was behind the kidnapping in the province of Sistan-Baluchestan.