QUETTA: Pakistani forces detained 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Monday for crossing into Pakistan days after an Iranian commander was reported saying his men should be allowed to confront terrorists in Pakistan.
The Guards were arrested in the Mashkhel area on the border with Iran eight days after a suicide bomber killed 42 people, including six Revolutionary Guard commanders, in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Balochistan province.
The militant group Jundollah (God’s soldiers) claimed responsibility for the blast.
Iran says the group operates from across the border in Pakistan. On Tuesday last week, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander said his force should be given permission to confront terrorists inside Pakistan, state media reported.
“It’s a serious matter. We are investigating why they crossed into our territory,” said a Pakistani border security official.
Another Pakistani security official said Iranian border officials had told them that the encroachment was accidental and happened after the Guards launched an operation against Jundollah militants near the border.
The Iranians were being detained and it was not clear when they would be released, the Pakistani officials said.
Relations between Iran and Pakistan have been generally good in recent years and the neighbors are cooperating on plans to build a natural gas pipeline but Iran has said last week’s suicide bombing would affect relations.
Meanwhile, Pakistani forces killed 19 militants in an intense clash in South Waziristan on Monday while insurgents aiming to divert the army’s attention launched a raid in another northwestern region, officials said.
The fighting took place when Taleban tried to block soldiers advancing through a village from the southeast toward a major militant base at Sararogha.
“They put up stiff resistance and used all sort of weapons including rocket-propelled grenades and heavy and light machine guns,” said an intelligence agency official in the region.
A military spokesman said forces had managed to secure Gharlai village and nearby ridges after the clash in which 10 militants and six soldiers were killed.
A group of militants launched what police said was a diversionary raid in the early hours of Monday on a security post near the town of Hangu, about 100 km northeast of South Waziristan.
Fifteen militants and one soldier were killed, police said.
Later, security forces destroyed six hideouts and arrested 15 militants during a search, he said.
Fighter jets later bombed militant positions in the Orakzai region, north of Hangu, destroying two hideouts, officials said.
