Five abducted Iranian guards freed in Pakistan return home

TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said five of 12 Iranian border guards abducted in October by militants from Lulakdan area near the Pak-Iran border and freed in Pakistan earlier this month have returned home, reported Associated Press.

The report on the Guard’s website, Sepahnews.com, said the five arrived in Iran on Wednesday night.

The fate of the others remains unknown.

Pakistani security forces safely recovered five of the 12 border guards on Nov 15.

About twelve Iranian guards were kidnapped by militants from a post in Mirjaveh region close to the border. Jaish al-Adl, a terrorist group operating in the region, had claimed responsibility for their kidnapping.

Details were sketchy at the time of the abduction and Iran has since twice revised the number of the abducted border force, including some from Iran’s vaunted Revolutionary Guard.

Following the abduction, Iran’s top military commander Maj Gen Mohammad Hossein Bagheri had phoned Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and requested him to intensify efforts for the search and rescue of the kidnapped Iranian border guards.

Moreover, the Foreign Office had also pledged to offer all possible assistance to locate the missing Iranian security personnel.

“Both militaries, under a joint mechanism established since last year, are working to ascertain the whereabouts of the [missing] Iranian guards. The Director General Military Operations from the two sides are coordinating actions in this regard,” read an FO statement.

“No effort will be spared to assist our Iranian brothers in finding the missing guards,” it had said.