Iran to up efforts to establish border guard’s fate

Iran’s Interior Ministry says it will step up diplomatic efforts to establish the fate of an abducted Iranian border guard.

On February 6, the Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group kidnapped five Iranian border guards in Jakigour region in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan and took them to the Pakistani territory. On March 23, the terror group claimed that it had killed one of the hostages named Jamshid Danaeifar.

On Sunday, four of the five abducted guards were freed and reunited with their families.

“By no means do we accept that Jamshid Danaeifar, the last kidnapped Iranian border guard, has been martyred and we will intensify diplomatic efforts in that regard,” said Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, IRNA reported on Thursday.

He also stated, “The Pakistani government and those tasked with following up on the fate of the last abducted border guard are responsible [for the fate of the guard].”

On Monday, the interior minister said that even the newly-released border guards are in the dark about Danaeifar’s fate.

On October 25, 2013, Jaish-ul-Adl terrorists also killed 14 Iranian border guards and wounded six others in a border region near the city of Saravan in Sistan-and-Baluchestan Province.

Iran and Pakistan signed a security agreement in February 2013 under which both countries are required to cooperate in preventing and combating organized crime, fighting terrorism and countering activities that pose a threat to the national security of either country.

Iran has repeatedly called on Pakistan to abide by the terms of the agreement.