Iranian officials have rejected news that one of five abducted Iranian border officers has been executed by their captors.
Five Iranian border officers were captured by the militant Sunni group Jeysh-ol-Adl in February. Earlier today, the group allegedly announced, in a Twitter message in Arabic attributed to Jeysh-ol-Adl, that it has executed a captive Iranian soldier named Jamshid Danayifar.
Iranian deputy interior minister Hosseinali Amiri told ISNA, however, that he cannot confirm this report.
“If this were true,” Amiri told ISNA; “we would have been informed. There has been no such report; therefore, we still maintain that the five Iranian border officers are in good health and are being held in Pakistani territory.”
Jeysh-ol-Adl has demanded that Iran release 200 Sunni prisoners in Iran and 50 Sunni women who, according to Jeysh-ol-Adl, are being held prisoner by Revolutionary Guards in Syria.
On March 20, the head of Iranian Parliament, Ali Larijani, reported that “positive talks” were underway to secure the release of the five border officers.
He also criticized Pakistani authorities, saying: “Terrorist groups should not be allowed to use Pakistani territory for their operations.”
Jeysh-ol-Adl claims to fight for the interests of Sunni Muslims in the region and has taken responsibility for several earlier attacks in the border regions of Sistan-Baluchistan Province.
