Terrorists Nabbed in Border Areas

Iranian security and intelligence forces have arrested members of terrorist groups active in eastern and western border regions, the police chief announced.

"The terrorists were identified, arrested and finally handed over to judicial officials," Lieutenant General Hossein Ashtari told reporters on Saturday, Press TV reported. He said Iran has been boosting security at its borders by providing security forces with equipment to fight terrorists.

Ashtari 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.

  Doubled Responsibility

"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 said.

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.

Security forces arrested members of an Iraqi-based terrorist group comprising two terrorists and their two accomplices in a village near the Iranian city of Marivan in the western province of Kurdestan on September 16 and 18 before they could find an opportunity to conduct any acts of terror.

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

On September 20, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps forces arrested two terrorists with Pakistani nationality in the southeastern 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 Sistan-Baluchestan.

Iran's Intelligence Ministry said in August it had identified 102 members or supporters of a terrorist group in Kurdestan Province.

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