Pakistan Arrests 11 Iranians Thought to be Revolutionary Guards

Police in Pakistan have arrested 11 men, originally all thought to be members of the 120,000-strong elite Revolutionary Guards, who entered the country illegally from Iran.

The 11 men detained on Monday, they were arrested in Mashkel in Pakistan's Southwestern Balochistan province, which borders Iran's Southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, were first identified as members of the Revolutionary Guards, the BBC and Al Jazeera are still reporting that to be the case, but Pakistani officials apparently now believe that only three of those arrested may be senior officers in the Guards. According to the Associated Press Iran's Press TV has described those arrested as "border guards hunting fuel smugglers (who) accidentally entered Pakistan". Officials in Pakistan have seemingly acknowledged that most of those detained are indeed border guards, although Al Jazeera notes that Iranian state television has said that some of the men arrested were suspected drug dealers whom the border guards had been pursuing. Regardless of the exact identities of those detained, if it transpires that they are all Revolutionary Guards then it would certainly be more significant, the arrests come at a time when the relationship between Iran and Pakistan is rather tense. That tension is largely due to a suicide bomb attack on October 18 in the town of Pishin in Sistan-Baluchistan in which 42 people were killed. Six Revolutionary Guard commanders were amongst those killed in an attack for which the Sunni Muslim group Jundallah (Soldiers of God) has reportedly claimed responsibility. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is adamant that Jundollah, the BBC says the group is also known as the Popular Resistance Movement of Iran, received support, when planning or carrying out the attack in Pishin, from members of the Pakistani intelligence service. And the President has called on Pakistan to hand over those responsible in any way for the bombing on October 18. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has refuted suggestions that the leader of Jundollah, a group the Iranians claim also enjoys the support of the U.S. and Britain, is in Pakistan and the country's President, Asif Ali Zardari, after meeting with the Interior Minister of Iran, has referred to those behind the Pishin attack as "the enemies of both countries". No indication has yet been given as to when the 11 men in detention, they are supposedly still being questioned, will be released. They were some four miles in to Pakistan when arrested and two vehicles were seized by the Pakistani police at the same time as the arrests were made.