January 18, 2006	Wednesday	Zilhaj 17, 1426

BAGHDAD, Jan 17: Iraqi officials on Tuesday accused Iranian forces of ‘kidnapping’ a coastguard patrol after a clash on their tidal frontier and demanded the men’s release, but Tehran’s envoy in Baghdad denied the incident took place.

Iraq’s foreign minister called in the Iranian envoy to seek the release of eight or nine coastguards Iraq said were seized after an exchange of fire involving suspected oil smugglers on their long-disputed border along the Shatt al Arab estuary.

Iran’s embassy in Baghdad denied all knowledge of the incident, which Iraqi officials, in confusing statements, said happened on Saturday or Sunday and involved up to 10 coastguards.

The regional governor in Basra accused Iranian forces of ‘martyring’ one Iraqi and kidnapping eight, but said later he had been unable to confirm the death.

“He has serious injuries and there are reports that he has died, but I have not been able to verify that,” he told Al Arabiya television.

Spokesmen for the central government in Baghdad were more restrained and a government spokeswoman said she did not know of any casualty.

Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari was raising the issue in a meeting with Iranian charge d’affaires Hasan Kazemi-Qomi, an Iraqi foreign ministry spokesman said. One of the main reasons for calling the meeting was to discuss the incident, he said.

But Kazemi-Qomi said through a spokeswoman: “The reports of this incident are untrue.” He made no further comment.

The Iranian foreign ministry in Tehran said only that reports of the incident were ‘incorrect’, the Iranian Isna students’ news agency reported.

HISTORICAL DISPUTES: Iraq and Iran have a long history of disputes along their tidal border. Iran seized three British naval patrol boats in the same area on its border with Iraq in June 2004, at a time when British forces were responsible for policing the border.

But relations between Baghdad and Tehran are at their warmest in decades, with Shia leaders in power in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government.

Many of the new leaders sought refuge in Iran during the 1980-88 war.

Mr Jaafari has visited Tehran and his government’s close relations with Iran have alarmed the United States.

Lt Col Ziyad Majid Wali, a Coast Guard commander in the Iraqi port of Abu Flous on the Shatt al Arab, said: “The incident on the 15th ... resulted in the arrest of our patrol by an Iranian patrol ... An officer and nine guards are still detained along with their boats.”

He said the problem began when Iraqi coastguards approached a ship, the Nour 1, suspecting it of being involved in smuggling oil, close to the Iranian port of Abadan.

Smuggling is a major problem for the Iraqi government, which heavily subsidizes fuel and sees some of it driven or shipped abroad to be sold for big profits in neighbouring countries. —Reuters