Iran: Militant Group ‘Broken Up’ in Baluchistan - UPDATE

Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported today that IRGC has “broken up” a militant group in the Iranian Baluchistan. The report did not give any more information on the group, but said it was linked to a “foreign intelligence agency.”  IRGC reportedly confiscated “a large amount of weapons and communication equipment” from the militants. (IRNA, 6 April)

UPDATE: Iranian news agencies are reporting that 8 Iranian NAJA border guards were killed today in an attack by the militants in Baluchistan near the border with Pakistan. No further details were available.

UPDATE: Iranian Baluch militant group Jaish Ul-Adl has taken responsibility for the attack on Iranian border post that killed eight NAJA guards.

File photo: Iran's NAJA border guard in Baluchistan (FNA)

Iranian Baluch Insurgent Leader Arrested in Pakistan

Jaish ul-Adl leader Salam Rigi was arrested in Pakistan while traveling by Bus in the country’s southwest. Salam led the Iranian-Baluch Sunni militant organization Jaish ul-Adl (Army of Justice), which has conducted a number of terrorist attacks against Iranian security forces in the Iranian Baluchistan in the past two years, including kidnapping of 5 border guards and killing of one of them last year. Jaish ul-Adl is the successor to Jundallah. Salam Rigi’s cousin, Abdolrahman Rigi, headed that organization before he was kidnapped by Iranian security forces and brought to Iran and hanged in 2010.  

File photo: Iranian border guards kidnapped by Jaish ul-Adl, February 2014. (pic.twitter.com/DBAeR59YVY)

IRGC Repels Attack by Baluchi Militants

Iran’s IRGC said today it has thwarted an attack by Baluchi militants on a security checkpoint near the town of Saravan, in Iranian Baluchistan. The province is dominated by Sunni Baluchis, bordering Pakistani Baluchistan. IRGC said the militants intended to capture the checkpoint station, but were repelled by IRGC Ground Force and Basij troops.

IRGC did not identify the attackers, but the Sunni insurgent group Jaish ul-Adl ("Army of Justice") has in the past year staged a number of attacks against the IRGC and border guards in Baluchistan. This latest attack happened in the early hours of Tuesday, and the attackers fled back to their base inside Pakistan.

UPDATE: An IRGC officer was killed in action during the attack by Jaish ul-Adl insurgents on Tuesday 9 September. (Shargh Daily, 10 September)

File photo: Members of Baluch insurgency group Jaish ul-Adl (taghribnews)

Death of Iran's Fifth Abducted Border Guard Unsubstantiated - Commander

Commander of the Iranian Border Guards Brig. Gen. Hossein Zolfaqari said today the death of the fifth abducted guard has not been proved. The Baluch militant group Jaish ul-Adl had said it executed Jamshid Danaie-Far last month.

“Don’t accept any quotes (from Jaish ul-Adl) about the issue of the border guards, there is no proof substantiating the martyrdom of Danaie-Far and no evidence has been presented to us in this regard," Zolfaqari told reporters in Tehran. (Fars News Agency, 12 April)

The four Iranian border guards were handed over to Iranian officials in Pakistan last Friday and returned home last Sunday, two months after their abduction.

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli had said on Thursday that Tehran will continue pursuing the fate of the fifth border guard abducted by Jaish ul-Adl.

Photo credit: Brig. Gen. Hossein Zolfaqari, commander of Iran's Border Guards (FNA)

Iranian Border Guards Freed by Militants - UPDATE

Hostages Were Freed at Iran-Afghanistan Border

Iran’s semi-official Fars news Agency reported that the Baluch militant group Jaish ul-Adl has freed Iranian border guards today and handed them to Iranian authorities. The group took five guards hostage in February, but said it executed one of them, and threatened to execute the rest if Iran did not free all imprisoned Baluch militants.

It was not clear if Iran accepted Jaish ul-Adl demands and freed any prisoners. The Iranian authorities said last month they were negotiating with the militants, without disclosing any details, to free NAJA border guards.

Fars News Agency named the freed guards as Ramin Hazrati, Sajad Zahani, Mohammad Nezami and Jamshid Taimouri. Jamshid Danayeefar, the fifth guard who was kidnapped, was executed by the group in March. Fars did not say if Danayeefar’s body was delivered to Iranian authorities.

UPDATE I: Al Arabiya reported that Jaish ul-Adl freed the border guards on request of Baluchistan’s religious leader Molana Abdol-Hamid and other regional leaders.

Abdol Raoof Rigi, a spokesman for the group, told reporters that Jaish ul-Adl would return Danayeefar’s body if the Iranians return the bodies of Baluch militants executed in Iran.  Abdol Raoof is the brother of Abdol Malik Rigi, the leader of Jundallah who was kidnapped by Iranian agents and later executed in Iran.

UPDATE II: The four freed guards were handed over to the Iranian authorities at Iran-Afghanistan border in Afghan Baluchistan, Nimrooz province, and were taken to Zabol, the nearest Iranian city. (Al Arabiya, 4 April)

Photo credit: The four NAJA border guards shown moments before being freed, being “interviewed” by Adl Network of Jaish ul-Adl; 4 April 2014 (Al Arabiya) 

Pakistani Prime Minister to Visit Iran

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will pay an official visit to Iran in May to hold talks with Iranian authorities, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Sartaj Aziz, announced today. The exact date of the visit has not been set yet. (Press TV, 2 April)

 

Aziz, who is also the country’s national security advisor, said today that the premier’s visit will aim to improve Tehran-Islamabad relations. He added, “the balance of the relationship among Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is crucial.”
 

Sharif’s visit will come at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries. In February, the militant Baluch group Jaish ul-Adl kidnapped five Iranian border guards and has since announced the execution of one of them. The Iranians believe the group is holding its hostages inside the Pakistani territory, with Pakistan not doing enough to find them. There are also suspicions by the Iranians that the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, might know more about the location of the hostages than publicly reported. Pakistani officials have said, however, that the NAJA border guards are not kept in Pakistani territory.

Earlier this week, IRGC took over the responsibility for the security of Baluchistan and its borders with Pakistan, and it is expected that the IRGC will now conduct long-term anti-terrorist operations in greater Baluchistan against militant Baluch groups who hold sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the border. 

 

The IRGC has been similarly operating in Kurdistan for many years, in an ongoing fight against the Kurdish militant group PJAK. Baluchistan will become the second front for the IRGC inside Iran. Externally, its Quds Force is actively involved in the Syrian civil war.

It is also expected that the IRGC Special Forces, the Saberin, and other elements of IRGC ground forces stationed in Baluchistan, start a search and rescue operation to find and free the remaining hostages, which would entail a military incursion inside Pakistan.

Aside from the recent kidnapping, Iran is generally concerned with the rapid rise of Sunni extremism in the region, especially in its neighboring Pakistan and Iraq. And it regards Saudi Arabia as the main force behind it. Interestingly, the Pakistani foreign minister referred to a need to "balance the relationship between Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan." Sharif’s visit comes at a delicate moment in the relations of the two countries.       

Photo credit: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (Press TV)

IRGC Put in Charge of Border Areas with Pakistan

UPDATE: IRGC to Give ‘Crushing Response’ to Abductors

UPDATE: IRGC director of public relations, Brig. Gen. Ramezan Sharif, told reporters in Tehran on Sunday that IRGC is “planning to give a crushing response to the abductors of Iranian border guards after taking control of Saravan borders in Sistan and Baluchistan province.” (Fars News Agency, 30 March)

Gen. Sharif’s announcement confirms the expectations that the IRGC’s move to militarize the border security, away from law enforcement agency NAJA, would mean it was planning a military incursion into Pakistan to conduct search and rescue operations.
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Below is the original article posted here on 29 March.

IRGC Ground Forces (IRGC-GF) was put in charge of security of a 300-km stretch of border with Pakistan. IRGC-GF’s southeastern headquarters in the city of Saravan, the so-called Quds HQ (not to be confused with IRGC-QF), took over the responsibility from Law Enforcement Forces (NAJA) and its border patrol unit, Fars News Agency reported today.

Last month, five border guards were abducted in that area by the Baluch militant group Jaish ul-Adl, and reportedly transferred to the Pakistani side of Baluchistan. Jaish ul-Adl has since executed one of the guards.

Yesterday, IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari visited Saravan. (IRNA, 29 March)

“The IRGC's Quds Headquarters has been commissioned to ensure the security of 300 kilometers (186 miles) of Iran's border areas in the Southeastern city of Saravan in Sistan and Baluchestan province in a bid to step up security in the region,” Jafari said. (Fars News Agency, 29 March)

Gen. Jafari’s visit to the region came amid growing expectations that IRGC Special Forces, the Saberin, supported by IRGC-GF units, will soon conduct search and rescue operations inside Pakistani territory to free the remaining abductees.

The Iranian government, however, has been pressuring Pakistan to take the lead in freeing the guards before any military intervention across the border. It is not known if the IRGC or the Pakistanis know the exact location where the guards are being held.

Photo credit: IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari (Press TV)

Iran Seeks UN Help to Free Abducted Border Guards

No Sign of Abducted Guards in Pakistan - PAK Foreign Ministry

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif today asked for help from the United Nations to secure the release of the abducted Iranian border guards.

In an urgent plea sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday. Zarif said, “Mere condemnation of acts of terrorism is not enough,” and asked for concrete actions by the UN and the international community to free the guards. [Facebook (Zarif)/AFP, 27 March]

The Baluch militant group Jaish-ul Adl abducted five frontier guards on 6 February and said this week that it has executed one of them. Ban on Tuesday condemned the killing as an “appalling act” and urged that the perpetrators be brought to justice. (AFP, 27 March)

Meanwhile, Pakistan said today that there are no signs of abducted Iranian guards in Pakistan.

“Our authorities have combed Pakistani territory in search of missing Iranian guards, however, there are no clues that they are in Pakistan,” said Pakistani Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam, adding that the body of one of the guards reportedly killed by his captors was not found on Pakistani territory. (AAP, 27 March)

Aslam also said Pakistan is “neither apologetic with Iran” and nor wants that Iran will have “aggressive attitude.”.

The guards are believed to have been transferred to the Pakistani side of Baluchistan Iran on several occasions, and as late as yesterday, has hinted of a military incursion into Pakistan to free them.

Iran Demands Release of Frontier Guards from Pakistan

Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli today demanded immediate release of abducted Iranian border guards from Pakistan.

“The Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Security and other Iranian bodies have attempted to (work with Pakistan) to release the abducted frontier guards. We hope that the information disseminated on the death of one of them is untrue, but if this information is confirmed, we will be forced to resort to other measures to protect our borders,” Rahmani Fazli said. (IRIB, 26 March)

The tone of Rahmani Fazeli’s demand suggests that Iran might be getting ready to intervene militarily to free the guards. If such decision is made politically, and if Iran has good intelligence on the whereabouts of the detained guards, it will be expected that the IRGC Special Forces, the Saberin, supported by elements from other military units, to enter the Pakistani Baluchistan on the search and rescue mission.

However such intervention will complicate Iran-Pakistan’s relations, especially with the Pakistani military and the ISI who are in charge of Baluchistan’s security.

File photo: Iranian Frontier Guard at Pakistani Border in Baluchistan (IRNA)

Jaish ul-Adl: Execution of Iranian Border Guard – Confirmation by Iran

UPDATE: Iran has confirmed that the militant Baluch group Jaish ul-Adl has executed one of the five border guards. (Fars News Agency, 25 March)

Jaish ul-Adl identified the slain guard as Pasdar Corporal First Class Jamshid Danayeefar. Fars New Agency has identified Danayeefar by a red circle in the original photo released by Jaish ul-Adl (above.)

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The militant Baluch group Jaish ul-Adl on Sunday announced the execution of one of the five Iranian border guards it has kept in detention since abducting them on 6 February in Jakigour region, on Iranian side of Baluchistan. 

Jaish ul-Adl announced the execution on its Twitter account. It identified the slain guard as Pasdar Corporal First Class Jamshid Danayeefar. The group said its action was in retaliation of the recent execution by Iran of one of its own members. The group also said it would deliver Danayeefar’s body to the authorities in return for 50 bodies of its members it claimed to have been executed in Iran.

Today, Iran’s official news agency IRNA conformed the report of the execution, citing an informed source in Pakistan. The Iranian Interior Ministry, however, denied the report. Its spokesman said, “We don’t confirm this report; were it true, we would have been informed.” (Fars News Agency, 24 March)

Iranian Interior Ministry did not say who would have informed them if the report were true. Jaish ul-Adl is believed to have transferred the guards to Pakistani Baluchistan. If true, then the powerful Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, with its vast presence in the province, should know about the location where the guards are kept. IRNA and Interior Ministry did not disclose the sources of their conflicting reports, or whether the Iranian authorities are coordinating their actions with their Pakistani counterparts and the ISI.  

The Iranian authorities had said in recent days that they were negotiating with the militants for the border guards’ release, without disclosing the terms of such agreement. Now that Jaish ul-Adl has announced the execution of one of the guards, it is not clear if they would still pursue negotiations, as opposed to engaging in military operations, including sending in the IRGC’s Special Forces, that they had hinted last month, to free the rest of hostages.