Iran Arrests Zahedan Police Killers

Commander of the Law Enforcement Police in the Southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan Hossein Rahimi announced on Saturday that his forces have arrested the terrorists who had killed two police officers in Zahedan city a year ago.

“The crime investigation detectives of the police found some clues about the involvement of a 6-stong gang of armed thieves in this case after months of extensive specialized measures and after gaining enough intelligence,” Rahimi said.

Noting that the members of the gang used forged documents to travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan, he said that the police forces identified the culprits and arrested them in several coordinated operations in Zahedan and Chabahar cities.

Rahimi said that the gang members have already confessed that they had killed the two police officers in Zahedan city on 17 June 2013, wounded two people one month earlier, murdered two individuals in Zahedan’s Park Mellat, robbed the passengers of a car and wounded three people when they sprayed bullet at the people who had approached the car.

Sistan and Balouchestan province which is adjacent to Pakistan has been the scene of a number of terrorist attacks in recent years with most terrorists escaping to the Pakistani territories.

Four Iranian police officers, including a conscript, were killed in two terrorist attacks on a border post in Sistan and Balouchestan in October.

The tragic event took place in the vicinity of the city of Saravan near the border with Pakistan.

Last month, Iranian Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri urged Pakistan to stop terrorists’ cross-border attacks from its soil, warning that the Iranian military will take action to crush such terrorist groups if Islamabad continues its present heedless attitude.

“We hope to be able to prevent terrorist actions with the help of the regional governments, especially the Pakistani government and army,” General Jazayeri told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony held in Tehran to commemorate the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) martyred commanders.

“Naturally, Iran will not bear such conditions for a long time and if the Islamic Republic feels necessary, it will adopt deterrent measures in this regard,” he stressed with a warning tone.

 

Also on February 6, Jaish al-Adl terrorists kidnapped five Iranian border guards in Jakigour region in Sistan and Balouchestan and took them to the Pakistani territory.

In a message on April 6, Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said efforts by security and diplomatic bodies as well as locals had borne fruit and four of the abductees were freed and reunited with their families.

On October 25, 2013, Pakistan-based Jaish al-Adl terrorist group killed 14 Iranian border guards and wounded six others in the border region near the city of Saravan in Sistan and Balouchestan province.

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

Iran has repeatedly called on Pakistan to comply with the terms of the agreement.