Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Iranians cross into Pakistan use heavy artillery



9 Iranians killed in clash near Nowkandi

NOWKANDI: Nine personnel of Iranian security forces and one Baloch tribesman were killed in a gunbattle in Nowkandi, a Pakistani town bordering Iran, on Monday.

Several Iranian security force personnel had crossed the international border on Monday morning and attacked Yaqoob Bazaar in Bahu Kalat town in Pakistan to secure the release of their missing officials allegedly abducted by local tribesmen. The attack prompted a shootout between Iranians and the tribesmen in which nine Iranian security personnel and one tribesman were killed. The Iranians reportedly used heavy artillery in the attack. online

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_23-8-2005_pg1_5




Note:

Special Forces from the US and Britain recently trained in the Pakistani port city of Karachi in areas that resemble Iranian cities, UPI reported quoting sources in the Pakistani intelligence.

During the exercise, the US and British troops showed particular interest in areas inhabited by Baluch tribesmen and Iranian refugees, where several key Al Qaeda terrorists are also believed to have taken refuge after escaping from Afghanistan following the US military operation against the Taliban in October 2001.

Pakistani police say that it was the same area where kidnappers of a Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl, had temporarily hidden him before killing him.

Culturally, this area is considered the closest in Pakistan to parts of eastern Iran and is also used by Iranian tribal smugglers who have ethnic and lingual affinities with the Baluch tribesmen living here.

Pakistani intelligence sources said that during the exercises, the troops also familiarized themselves with other Karachi neighbourhoods, roads and exit points, railway and bus stations and the airport.

Witnesses said some streets in Karachi, lined with shops on both sides with people living in the flats above, were made to resemble similar congested areas of major Iranian cities.
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