Iranian guards were not on Pakistani soil: FC

They were released inside Iran after mediation by an elder of the Shah Bakhsh tribe.

A day after news emerged that five Iranian border guards kidnapped from the area near Pakistan-Iran border had been freed, a spokesperson for Frontier Corps (FC) in Balochistan said on Saturday rejected the notion that the kidnapped guards were present on Pakistani soil, Radio Pakistan reported.

He further said that the guards were released inside Iran after mediation by an elder of the Shah Bakhsh tribe.

Earlier on Friday, Iranian border guards captured by Jaishul Adl rebels near the border were freed, the extremist group and an Iranian official said.

According to a media report, however, only four of the five abducted men were handed over to Iranian officials in Pakistan alive. They were accompanied by the body of the fifth, which the rebels said last month they had executed.

“The soldiers were handed over some hours ago by the small terrorist group Jaishul Adl to Iranian representatives in Pakistan,” said the Fars news agency, quoting an unidentified security official.

Pakistani officials could not confirm the release. “They have not been released in Pakistan. We don’t know where they were kept or released. We have no indication that these Iranian border guards were kept in Pakistan,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told Reuters.