Iran arrests terrorists on eastern, western borders, police chief says

Iranian security and intelligence forces have arrested the members of a number of terrorist groups in the country’s eastern and western border regions, Iran’s police chief says.

These terrorists were identified, arrested and finally handed over to judicial officials, Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari told reporters on Saturday.

He added that Iran has been boosting security at its borders by providing the country’s security forces with the necessary equipment to fight terrorists.

Ashtari further said Iranian forces had also thwarted plots by Takfiri and Salafi terrorists as well as other groups hostile to the Islamic Republic who sought to illegally cross the borders and stir insecurity in the country.

“Given the insecurity in some countries and instability at some borders, our responsibilities in protecting the borders have doubled so that no group can trespass the borders,” the police chief pointed out.

Iranian forces have recently engaged in clashes with terror groups, thwarting their terrorist activities on the border and within the country, arresting several of them and confiscating large amounts of explosives and bomb-making materials.

Iran’s security forces arrested members of an Iraqi-based terrorist group, comprised of two terrorists and their two accomplices, in a village near the Iranian city of Marivan in the western province of Kordestan on September 16 and 18 before they could find a chance to conduct any acts of terror.

The Iranian forces found a number of weapons and ammunition in their hideout.

On September 20, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces arrested two terrorists of Pakistani nationality in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan & Baluchestan.

According to a statement by the IRGC, the terrorists had been funded by Saudi Arabia and had received intelligence assistance from spy agencies of enemy states.

Earlier in September, the IRGC announced that it had dismantled a terrorist group, backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States, in the province of Sistan & Baluchestan

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said in August that it had identified 102 members or supporters of a terrorist group in Kordestan province.

In a statement, the ministry said that the identified individuals belonged to the so-called Tawhid and Jihad Takfiri terrorist group.

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