Chasing terror: Iran raises spectre of cross border raids

Military official says Iran will hunt down terrorists, if Islamabad does not

QUETTA: A senior Iranian official renewed a warning to Islamabad over unchecked intrusion of terrorists from Pakistan into Iran, saying Tehran’s forces would not hesitate to step in if Islamabad refused to take any measures against them.

“Border security is a common and pressing need for neighbouring countries. We are, in principle, against intervening in the affairs of any country, but if they fail to abide by their obligations, we will have [no choice but] to act,” Press TV quoted Brigadier General Hossein Salami, who is second-in-command in Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), as saying.

Salami said Iran would hunt down terrorists, even if they were operating from soil of neighbouring countries. “We will find them, and if they do not give up acts of terrorism, we will deal with them without reservation,” he said.

The commander said the IRGC forces were fully monitoring the activities of opposition parties, as well as the cross-border movements.

“We have an intimate knowledge of the status of terrorist groups in the region and we monitor all activities by terrorists,” he said, adding that the IRGC was monitoring a wide span of geographic areas in a quite tangible way to make enemies aware of their presence.

He said establishing an intelligence control was the best strategy which could contribute to the promotion of security. “One of the prerequisites of establishing security is possessing full intelligence,” he said.

The statement of the Iranian official came after four Iranian police officers were killed, in a gun attack followed by a bomb blast in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan last week. The Iranian forces suspected that terrorists fled to the Pakistani province of Balochistan.

Later, Iranian security forces apprehended a number of suspects. “Iran will take measures because we have evidence that terrorists flee towards neighboring countries,” the Iranian official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2014.