IRGC Releases Iranian Hostage in Afghanistan

Commander of the IRGC Ground Forces’ Quds Base, Brigadier General Mohammad Marani, said the Quds forces released Hossein Haj Malek, an Iranian engineer working for Jihad Nasr Company who had been taken hostage and taken to a border province of Afghanistan.
“The company is involved in a project to supply water for a 46-thousand-hectare land in Hamoun town north of Sistan and Baluchestan province,” he was quoted as saying in a Farsi report by Tasnim News Agency.
He also said Haj Malek was abducted by a group of unknown men on December 14 while taking a rest at his work in a region between Hamoun and Zabol.
General Marani noted that the hostage takers transferred the Iranian engineer to Afghanistan. “We discovered his burned vehicles two days later in a village near Nimrooz town.”
The military commander underlined that the hostage takers had told Haj Maleki’s family that their son would be killed if they don’t pay the ransom.
“His father then turned to Quds base for help and we immediately stepped into the fray to release him,” he noted.
He noted the Quds forces began their special operation to release Haj Maleki on December 24 after making required arrangements with the related legal organizations.
“During the operation which ended up in the release of Haj Maleki, the Quds forces also arrested at least five people who had played a role in the abduction,” he added.