Pakistan arrested 11 Iranians Monday near the countries' border amid tensions over a deadly suicide attack in Iran that Tehran alleges has links to Pakistani intelligence officials.
Authorities first said the 11 were members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Just simple Persian goat herders tending to their flock.
but then reversed course and identified them only as security officers. They were arrested after shooting out the tires of a car carrying smugglers, Pakistan authorities said.
The arrests could add to the strain between the two volatile nations triggered by the Oct. 18 attack on the Iranian side of the border. They came a day after the Pakistani president met Iran's interior minister and vowed to track down the perpetrators of the blast.
Pakistan has been accused of supporting militant activities in two other neighboring countries, Afghanistan and India, greatly complicating relations with both of them. Strains in its relationship with another regional power would only add to Pakistan's problems as it battles al-Qaida and the Taliban within its borders.
One Pakistani official later said three senior officers among the detainees probably belonged to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.
Iran's Press TV carried what it described as a statement from the guard condemning the arrests, but saying that the 11 were not its members. The report cited "informed" sources as saying the arrested men were "border guards hunting fuel smugglers (who) accidentally entered Pakistan."
In an attempt to boost security in the region, Iran put the Revolutionary Guard directly in control of Sistan-Baluchistan province in April. Its officers typically take the lead in any operations on Iran's border.
The 11 officers were taken into custody in Mashkel district, about seven kilometers (four miles) from the countries' border in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan, Happens all the time. Just ask the Mexican Federales.
paramilitary official Mohammad Naseer Baluch said. He said they were arrested soon after they shot out the tires of a car driven by "two petty smugglers."
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Posted by: ed ||
10/26/2009 19:25 ||
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#1
The Saudis may have paid the Pak Authorities a bunch to pull this kind of thing off but I don't think it will amount to much in the end.
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/26/2009 20:17 Comments ||
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Twelve people accused of promoting 'satanism' have been arrested in northwest Iran, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
"A number of people in the city of Orumiyeh who engaged in the promotion of 'satanism' through underground music and the production of blasphemous video clips were arrested," the daily Resalat quoted senior police official Kheibar Tiba as saying. The Islamic Republic said last year it would crack down on "indecent Western-inspired movements" such as rappers and satanists. That move signalled a widening of a clampdown on "immoral" conduct launched in 2007 against women flouting rules dictating that they cover their heads and disguise the shape of their bodies in public, in line with Iran's Islamic system. In May, security forces arrested 104 "devil worshippers" and seized drugs and alcohol during a party in a southern city. Alcohol and narcotics are illegal in Iran.
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] After more than 40 people, including senior commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps were killed in a terrorist attack in southeastern Iran, one of the country's senior army officials talks of the involvement of the US, UK, an Arab country and an eastern neighbor in the deadly bombing.
Speaking to Mehr news agency on Sunday, Deputy Head of Iran's armed forces headquarters Brigadier-General Seyyed Massoud Jazayeri said such attempts carried out by the enemy were aimed at causing ethnic strife in Iran.
"Terrorist activities particularly in borderline regions, threats and psychological warfare, soft war and even certain military measures in border regions are attempts at replacing unity with discord in our country." Brig. Gen. Jazayeri said.
The remarks came one week after a number of top IRGC commanders and Shia and Sunni tribal leaders were killed in a suicide bombing in the borderline region of Pishin in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
The Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist group, which is believed to be closely affiliated with the al Qaeda organization, has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
When asked about the role of foreign countries in the recent terrorist attempt, the Iranian army official said certain foreign countries had been involved in the bombing.
"The recent terrorist activities in Sistan-Baluchestan were conducted with the help of the Americans, the British, an Arab country and one of our eastern neighbors. We are well aware of such matters and necessary counter-measures will definitely be taken in response to such acts," Brig. Gen. Jazayeri explained.
Earlier condemning the attack, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the criminals would be punished.
"The criminals will soon get a proper response for their anti-human crimes," he was quoted as saying after the bombing.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
See also TOPIX > WHISPER IT: IRAN'S TIME HAS PASSED. The US GOVT likes the new positive raprochement many "moderate" andor formerly hostile Muslim Govts are making wid ISRAEL, + in trun receive US = US-WESTERN suppor for economi and other new public policies.
E.G. TURKEY.
OTOH SAME > LIBYA'S QADDAFI DEMANDS NUCLEAR FREE ISRAEL; + PALESTINIANS MUST RECOGNIZE JEWISH STATE [espec iff they want ECON-LAND concessions from Tel Aviv].
#2
JosephM, Turkey is turning against Israel to become closer to Syria and Iran. It remains to be seen whether the Islamist Erdogan will lead the country to become actively hostile... but he personally is.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog inspected a nuclear site in Iran on Sunday that has heightened Western fears of a covert program to develop atomic bombs, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
A four-member team of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors arrived in Tehran early on Sunday and later began inspecting the facility which is being constructed adjacent to a military base south of the capital.
Iran's Mehr news agency said the UN team is expected to make "several visits" to the plant during their three-day stay.
"The inspectors ... visited the facility in central Iran. They are expected to visit the site again," Mehr reported, without giving a source.
There was no immediate confirmation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2009 00:00 ||
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WMF > HONG KONG SCMP: CHINA'S AND ASIA'S NUCLEAR ENERGY PLANTS ARE NOT SAFE FROM TERROR STRIKES AND RADIATION RELEASE; + CHINA MAY NOT ACCEPT A US, WESTERN ROLE IN PROPOSED EAST COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION. NEW ZEALND PM JOHN KEYS IN FAVOR OF ROLES FOR US, RUSSIA, AND NON-ALIGNED PACIFIC NATIONS.
* SAME > ANALYSIS: POST 9-11 MCMAHON LINE [ CHIn-PAK-India] IS THE NEW "LINE OF DEMARCATION" FOR EAST-WEST GEOPOL CONFRONTATION AND COMPETITION.
* SAME > FRANCE IS SECOND ONLY TO THE USA IN NUMBERS OF OVERSEAS MILITARY BASES.
Uh, uh, OVER-SALTED, ONE-BITE-AND-YOUR-FULL/MEAL IS FINISHED ESCARGOTS have OWG GLOBAL AMBITIONS???
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Twelve people accused of promoting 'satanism' have been arrested in northwest Iran, a newspaper reported on Sunday. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] A team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog inspected a nuclear site in Iran on Sunday that has heightened Western fears of a covert program to develop atomic bombs, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
