Extremist group claims responsibility for abduction of Iranian troops

In a detailed post on their Telegram page, Jaish al-Adl published the names of the Iranian troops along with two pictures in which the 12 men and a cache of weapons are visible.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Sunni extremist group on Sunday claimed responsibility for the abduction of 12 Iranian security forces members near the border with Pakistan on Oct. 16.

In a detailed post on their Telegram page, Jaish al-Adl published the names of the Iranian troops along with two pictures in which the 12 men and a cache of weapons are visible.

In one of the photos, the men can be seen sitting in a line dressed in combat uniform. Jaish al-Adl said seven were members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the other five were police officers.

Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), founded in 2012, is an offshoot of the jihadi group Jundulla (The Soldiers of God), a designated terrorist organization by Iran and the United States.

According to Iran, both groups have targeted and killed members of the army and civilians. The organizations have mainly operated in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan with Jundulla claiming to fight for the “equal rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran.”

“The photos also showed a haul of automatic weapons and sniper rifles, rocket launchers, machine-guns, grenades, and ammunition, allegedly seized by the group from the Iranian forces,” state-owned IRNA reported on Monday.

According to the IRGC, the twelve men were abducted near a village some 150 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital of Zahedan after an “infiltrator” made them unconscious.

Baluchis, a majority of them Sunni, are the largest ethnic group in the province and have limited rights compared to the much smaller population of the Shia Sistani ethnicity, which Tehran favors for official posts, according to rights groups.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany