Eleven foreigners were rescued in a raid in a neighbourhood of Turbat town, some 1,050 kilometres west of Quetta. PHOTO: FILE
Five Iranian soldiers who were abducted in early February and taken across the border into Pakistan, have been freed, the army's deputy chief of staff said Saturday.
"The five Iranian soldiers kidnapped and taken to Pakistan have been freed," said General Massoud Jazayeri in remarks carried by the Fars news agency.
Jazayeri gave no further details about the release of the soldiers.
They were kidnapped in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Balochestan, scene of unrest in recent years by the Jaish-ul Adl militant group.
It was earlier reported that security officials had denied the guards were among those freed.
A security official told AFP, “Eleven foreigners were rescued in a raid in a neighbourhood of Turbat town.”
The raid had been conducted in an attempt to rescue five Iranian border guards who were kidnapped on February 5 from Iran’s Sistan-Balochistan province, officials said.
Initially, the freed hostages were not thought to be the guards but believed to be connected to a drug cartels operating in the province and to have been held hostage by them, officials said.
Diplomatic ties between Iran and Pakistan touched a fresh low last week over fate of the kidnapped border guards, when the Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli reportedly threatened Pakistan that Tehran may send forces into Pakistan to free them.
Sistan-Balochestan province has been the scene of unrest in recent years.
An insurgent group calling itself Jaishul Adl, or “Army of Justice”, has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. The group had posted pictures on its Facebook page it said were of the soldiers, handcuffed and being held in an unknown location.
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2 Tunisians and a Yemeni too? How and why?
If the raid operation was conducted to free the guards from extremist militants like Jaish-ul-Adl, why was it initially suspected that the kidnapped hostages were linked to or held by drug cartels? Or was it a drug bust that happened to come across militant held hostages by chance?
its not iran who is delaying the gas pipline project. this is our state afraid of america as always.iran is providing electircity to makran and many other parts of iran on very less rates.we must be thankful to iran, instead of accusing them..
This is a slap on the face of the official/minister who claimed yesterday that the kidnapped soldiers are in Iran itself held hostage by the kidnappers.
It was Iranian threat to cross into Pakistan territory that worked. Iranian soldiers were rescued by Pakistan along with other foreign hostages but none of the militants were killed or captured. There indeed smells soething fishy. If someone had threatened about the 23 FC soldiers, perhaps they could have been rescued.
A couple weeks and they were able to address Iran's concerns. Ten years and nothing could be done about the Haqqani's.
You never see pictures of the guys arrested or killed during these raids - makes you wonder whether the govt paid for their release.
@Major Iqbal: Why do you Indians have to hide yourself and want to create unrest. I know your FM has meet Iran FM for under sea pipeline now. GoP must coordinate with Iran and show who are these kidnappers.
Superb..........Pakistani law enforcement agencies delivered.. @Major Iqbal pipeline has been finalized by Iran..the delay is due to someone else..
Security officials should have arrested the members of this militant group as well.