The ministry did not address the fate of Jamshid Danayifar, a fifth soldier abducted along with his fellow border guards on February 6. The Jaishul Adl (Army of Justice) rebel group said Danayifar was executed in late March.
“Four of the abducted border guards returned to the homeland,” the ministry said in a statement carried by state broadcaster IRIB’s website.Reports on Friday said the four, along with Danayifar´s body, had been handed over to Iranian officials after being released. No details were immediately available where the soldiers had been held while prisoner, or how Iran secured their freedom.
The five were abducted in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, while serving their 24-month mandatory military service near the border with Pakistan.The news that Danayifar had been “executed” drew international condemnation, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling it an “appalling act”. A US State Department spokesman called for the “swift release” of the Iranian conscripts.
Jaishul Adl had warned of further killings if Tehran refused to “release their prisoners”. — AFPOnline adds: Four Iranian freed border guards have been received by some Sunni and Baloch influential men and security officials at a frontier point near the provincial capital Zahedan, Iranian media reported on Sunday.
According to the reporter of ‘SunniOnline’, the Iranian hostages have been released after continuous efforts made by prominent religious and tribal elders under the supervision of Islamic Sunni scholar, Mawlana Abdol-Hamid.
The outlawed armed group, Jaish al-Adl, claimed the responsibility of abducting five Iranian border guards on February 8, this year. The spokesman of the group told Iranian news agencies that they released four of the guards to respect the appeal of the tribal and religious elders; however, one of the hostages had been shot dead two weeks ago.
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