Thursday, March 01, 2007
4 Iranian cops killed in border clash http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\03\01\story_1-3-2007_pg7_6
* Iranian official complains about 'lack of cooperation' * Pakistan rejects complaints
TEHRAN: Militants killed four Iranian policemen and kidnapped at least one other in a late-night ambush in a sensitive border province before fleeing towards Pakistan, officials said on Wednesday.
The clash in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan follows an upsurge of violence in the area.
Interior Minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi said that four police were killed, one abducted and another wounded in the clash on Tuesday. Local police chief Esmael Ahmadi-Mogadam said earlier that four were taken hostage and two killed.
"The rebels who were in two cars fled towards Pakistan," Ahmadi Mogadam told the IRNA agency. He complained about the "lack of cooperation from Pakistan to fight against these rebels" adding that "this position is unacceptable".
However, a border official in Pakistan said he had no knowledge of any such incident and dismissed Iranian complaints that its frontier security was lax. "We intercept any illegal movement and the two sides have signed several agreements for strict border control and counter-narcotics cooperation," said Captain Shahid, a spokesman for the Pakistan frontier security force in Quetta.
Sistan-Baluchestan, home to a population of Baloch Muslims, borders Pakistan to the south and Afghanistan to the north.
Thirteen Revolutionary Guards were killed earlier this month when militants set off a car bomb in the provincial capital Zahedan and security forces also clashed with militants in the city when a percussion bomb exploded.
The unrest in Sistan-Baluchestan has coincided with renewed clashes between Iranian forces and Kurdish rebels in the northwestern province of West Azarbaijan close to the border with Turkey. Revolutionary Guards head General Yahya Rahim Safavi said more than 30 rebels had been killed in clashes in the northwest over the last few days and that Iranian forces still had other militants encircled.
The authorities have repeatedly accused the US and Britain of seeking to stir unrest amongst ethnic minorities in areas close to the Turkish, Iraqi and Pakistani borders. Zahedan Governor Hassan Ali Nouri accused the US of seeking to stir unrest in provinces where there is "ethnic and religious plurality".
Safavi added: "The United States and the Zionists seek to incite insecurity in Iran by allocating millions of dollars, equipping and financing satellite televisions and buying arms for these groups."
In a separate clash in Sistan-Baluchestan on Tuesday, Iranian security forces clashed with militants who crossed over from Pakistan and pushed them back, Mehr reported. afp
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