Saturday, September 09, 2006
Iraq accuses Iran of abducting soldiers
Security, Regional politics
Iraqi border guards accused Iran on Friday of shelling their territory near the town of Mandali and taking six soldiers following a clash on the border northeast of Baghdad. Iran's state news agency, IRNA said the soldiers were detained for crossing into the Iranian province of Ilam. They said an investigationw as under way.The Iraqi senior officer said teh clashes were sparked by the discovery by an Iraqi patrol of an Iranian outpost inside Iraq. A senior official at the Iraqi Defence Ministry in Baghdad said the incident was still being investigated but a formal statement from Baghdad was expected. Relations are now warm between Tehran and fellow Shias dominating Iraq's elected government following many years of hostility during Saddam's rule.
The activities of security forces on either side of the border, including efforts to counter smuggling, have occasionally led to brief detentions of troops, however. Kurdish groups in Iraq have accused Iran in recent weeks of shelling border areas, targeting anti-Iranian Kurdish fighters. Mandali is south of the main concentrations of Kurds living along the Iranian border.
The activities of security forces on either side of the border, including efforts to counter smuggling, have occasionally led to brief detentions of troops, however. Kurdish groups in Iraq have accused Iran in recent weeks of shelling border areas, targeting anti-Iranian Kurdish fighters. Mandali is south of the main concentrations of Kurds living along the Iranian border.
